peanut butter cup crunch ice cream cake

Yeah, that’s a mouthful.

When I told people I was making myself an ice cream cake for my birthday they all said some variation of “Wow, that sounds ambitious!”

Of course, that was after the brief moment of being judgmental that I insist on making my own birthday cake every year. Store bought baked goods? No no.

But in reality making an ice cream cake is ridiculously easy and there is no baking involved. The longest part is waiting for the ice cream to soften. It’s like watching paint dry, but it smells better.

A couple of weeks ago my friends Maura and Connor came to visit me and Maura brought me a bunch of goodies from Trader Joe’s. She knows me too well. One of them was a container of mini peanut butter cups which I certainly could have downed in one sitting and dealt with the resulting stomach ache, but I decided to save them for something special.

I didn’t have much going on for my birthday. Got a manicure/pedicure at the cheap place down the street, got my free iced coffee from Starbucks, went for a hair cut that I bought on Living Social for $15. Pampering myself on a budget makes the birthday girl happy.

Then a bunch of us went to happy hour at Bond Street Social down in Fells Point which has great Wednesday night specials and we had a really good time. I got to wear the dress I made!

In the midst of all my beautifying and ice cream cake making I basically forgot to eat yesterday, so the 4 Blue Moons I had really did me in.

Sorry for being drunk on the phone last night, Mom. Hope Kevin couldn’t tell!

Then we came home and enjoyed some cake.

Peanut Butter Cup Crunch Ice Cream Cake

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup peanut butter cups, chopped

4 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla extract

First set your ice cream out so it starts to soften. Melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and vanilla extract together in the microwave in increments of 20-25 seconds, stirring in between.

Once it is completely melted and smooth, add your Rice Krispies to the bowl. Stir with a spatula until completely coated. Birthday girl licks the spoon.

Spread about half of the mixture at the bottom of a lightly greased spring form pan. Spread the rest out on a baking sheet lined with wax paper, and place in the freezer.

At this point your ice cream should be pretty soft. Mix in the peanut butter cups until combined, and then spread the ice cream over the crust in the spring form pan.

Remove the rest of the cereal mixture from the freezer. You should be able to break it into pieces. Place them in a border, or in whatever pattern suits your fancy. I had some extra cereal mixture- this is okay. It’s a great snack.