Creamsicle Pie

You know what I love? When a recipes doesn’t work out like you planned it, but it totally doesn’t matter because it ends up being just as good if not better. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t usually happen to me. Usually, when I have a recipe fail, it’s a disaster of epic proportions, not unlike the oops-I-used-peppermint-extract-instead-of-vanilla-in-my-pumpkin-creme-brûlée-on-Thanksgiving incident of 2004 {I blame that one on pregnancy brain} or the more recent 2015 Poop Emoji Cupcake-gate {that one was just a plain old fail}. 

But this Creamsicle Pie was a good fail. An amazing fail, actually. And not only did this fail work for this dessert, it inspired an even better dessert that I will be sharing next week. 

So here’s the story. One of my go-to recipes for a quick and easy dessert is this Lemon Cloud Pie. I could probably eat an entire one myself it is so delicious. It’s also inspired a couple of other recipes of mine, like these Lemon Cloud Push Pops and these Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake Bites. 

I have thought about trying it with a different citrus fruit, and in particular orange, ever since I tried it the first time. 

What I didn’t realize is that in the lemon recipe, something happens when you mix the lemon juice with the condensed milk. I don’t know if it curdles or what {that sounds kind of gross, so I’m going to say that it’s just something chemical-y}, but it gets thicker. And when you fold in the Cool Whip, it makes this amazing, light, fluffy deliciousness. 

When you try that same thing with orange juice, it makes soup. Delicious, creamsicle-tasting soup, but soup nonetheless. 

It was at this point that I realized I could turn my fail into a success. I decided to stick it in the freezer and see what happened.

And what happened, my friends, was amazeballs.

My kids went bananas over this. It really truly tastes like a frozen creamsicle, just in pie form. So very delicious.

And, as a bonus, super easy — and you can make it ahead of time and just keep it in the freezer! {I wouldn’t recommend keeping it for much longer than 4-5 days, it gets kind of manky after that}.

Here’s hoping that my next baking fail turns out as great as this one did!

You tell me: What is your biggest recipe fail? 

Creamsicle Pie

Jenn Young

This 5-ingredient Creamsicle Pie tastes just like one of your favorite treats from childhood!

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Prep Time 5 mins

Total Time 6 hrs

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

• 1 prepared 9-inch shortbread crumb crust
• 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup about 3 medium oranges fresh orange juice
• 2 tsp. grated orange peel
• 2 cups frozen whipped topping thawed

Instructions

 

• 1. Beat sweetened condensed milk, orange juice and orange peel in a small bowl until combined. Fold in whipped topping, pour into crust. Cover and freeze for 6-8 hours or until completely frozen. Garnish with additional orange zest and whipped cream.

Notes

Adapted from Very Best Baking