Summer is sweeter with this 1950s Jell-O Ice Cream Pie recipe

It's scarcely a secret that this time of the year and frozen desserts go together like bread and butter, pencil skirts and seamed stockings, and kittens plus balls of yarn. Ask any child - and many of that are still young at heart - what one of their favourite (if not very favourite!) food of the season is and chances are, ice cream will top their list.

I'm no stranger to a passion for this scrumptious treat either (as you may recall from previous posts such as this one about how to throw a vintage ice cream party), so as soon as the last of the Easter candy is polished off (and sometime even before! :)) and the mercury starts showing double digits again, my mind turns to thoughts of ice cream recipes.

Today's is so incredibly simple and easy that it can scarcely be called a recipe, but by definition it still is, and so I present to you an endlessly versatile Jell-O Instant Pudding Ice Cream Pie from 1957.



{A mere four ingredients and an hour is all it takes to create a colourful, delicious vintage pudding and ice cream pie of your own this spring or summer. Image source.}


You can use any appropriate store bought or homemade pie crust that you fancy. I've made this recipe numerous times and often use a fairly thick butter and (gluten-free, if I'm going to be having any) graham cracker crust instead of a pastry one, but have tried the original approach with great success as well. One fun trick is to make a chocolate pie crust if you're going to be using an ice cream flavour (such as mint, black cherry, peanut butter, coconut, or mocha) that partners especially well with the taste of cocoa.

Speaking of GF ingredients, while Kraft currently maintains they will always declare the presence of gluten or any other common allergen in their ingredient lists, I know for past experience with various Kraft products that did not specifically include gluten, that it’s still possible for cross contamination to occur and for you to get sick with some of their products. If you’re looking for a bona fide gluten-free instant pudding mix (that is also Vegan, thus making it egg and dairy-free by default), I highly recommend Natural Desserts.

This pie has so many of the hallmarks of a classic fifties summer dessert to it. Jell-O, a pre-made pie crust, no baking, and cheerful, beautiful pastel colours that look as though they could mirror those of some fabulous kitchens from that era itself.

You can further adorn, as the three examples here show, your ice cream pie with tasty toppings such as nuts, fresh fruit, mint leaves, curls of citrus peel, as well as other things like chocolate curls or shavings, mini cookies, candies, marshmallows, pretzels, candied fruit, candied ginger, or a drizzle of your favourite ice cream topping such as caramel, chocolate, cherry, strawberry, pineapple, or butterscotch (just make sure it's at room temperature or colder when you pour it over top so as to not risk melting the pie at all).

This dessert is awesome not only because of how it tastes, but because it's a not terribly hard on the wallet and is a (summer) breeze to whip up on even the most sizzling, energy zapping of days of the season, when you'd rather juggle live snakes than turn on the oven for the sake of making dessert.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for vintage ice cream!

The weather simmered down a minuscule amount today, but scarcely enough to warrant mentioning. As such, my thoughts have turned to the topic of all manner of ways to help beat the heat if you’d don’t have AC (or improve the situation further even if you do!). From daydreaming about Alpine ski resorts to imaging a picturesque Christmas morning, snow falling as gracefully as fluttering angels, my mind has been on chilly, refreshing ideas this week.

One of the tastiest and most time honoured methods to help you – if only for a few minutes – cool off a bit, is to cozy up with a frozen treat. While prior to the widespread availability of ice, and more recently refrigerators and freezers, frozen desserts where generally only consumed by the fabulously well-to-do (or perhaps those who lived in chilly climates, too), for several decades now nearly everyone has had quick access to frozen desserts.

Just as the availability of such treats has become immensely widespread, so too has the number of ice cream and frozen snacks options sky-rocketed. From a virtually endless array of ice cream flavours (including some that most of us would rather pass up, such as the 101 flavours on this list) to frozen novelty treats on sticks, sherbets to ices, gelatos to dairy-free “ice cream” options for anyone who opts (or needs) to milk products (tons of lovely options exist in the dairy-free and vegan ice cream category, such as recipes and store bought brands made from soy, coconut or almond milk). So many incredible frozen treats exist in fact that we’re almost spoiled for choice by them! (Note, I said "almost"! :D)

Based on the comments Monday’s post about the surface-of-the-sun hot temps generated from readers who are similarly melting, I thought we could all imagine that we're getting together at the local malt shop, gathering in someone’s kitchen or around the backyard swimming pool. From there we’ll partake of some respite from the sizzling temperatures by looking at a scrumptious slew of vintage ice cream images – while lapping away at a cone, bar or treat on a stick of our own!




{Getting stranded on a dessert island with a heaping bowl of coconut fudge ice cream does sounds infinitely more fun than just having a volley ball to pal around with, don’t you think? :D}



{A pair of immensely cute youngsters take a break from painting their white picket fence to enjoy an ice cold Popsicle in the lovely, colourful early 60s ad.}



{Anyone else think this strawberry ice cream loving child could pass for Beaver Cleaver’s cousin? On a different note, I love the rather clever idea of keeping a dish or container of ice cream cold in a bucket of ice – so logical!}



{Peanut butter + chocolate + ice cream = super-duper yummy! These sound fantastic, like a frozen Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.}



{The idea of individual little cubes of ice cream is really quite adorable, I’m surprised they didn’t stick around – yet what I especially like about this 1949 advert is how deeply stylish and beautiful the lady tumbling the ice cream out into the little glass dish is.}



{I just had to post this vintage magazine page, it has a recipe for maple nut, my mom’s favourite flavour of ice cream (and one of mine, too!) – though I’m not sure either one of us has ever had a version such as this, which calls for rennet and corn syrup.}



{Surely I can’t be the only who’s a little intrigued by the idea of creating ice cream with three everyday pantry items: Kool-Aid, sugar and evaporated milk.}



{Blizzards are undeniably fantastic, but I must admit, it’s always been Dairy Queen’s sundaes and ice cream cakes that make me go weak in the knees.}



{I swear I was just thinking of little cups of ice cream like this a couple of weeks ago, and here today I chanced upon this Dixie ad for them. While I can’t recall for certain whether they were Dixie brand or not, individual servings of ice cream like this always make me think of the annual Sports Day at my elementary school because mid-way through the day the teachers always gave each of the students a little ice cream in a clear plastic cup with a flat wooden spoon.}



{Cherry nugget ice cream? Yes please! I think this flavour sounds absolutely delicious, perpetual candied cherry fan that I am ;D}



{This 1958 ad for Big Dip low calorie ice cream looks appealing...perhaps a little too appealing, just how low cal was it? :D}



{This deeply charming ice shop photo is wonderful, yet I can’t help feeling sorry for the poor chap, as it seems the young lady is more into her float than her beau!}



{Adorable mascots and a mouth-wateringly delicious soft serve ice cream and soda hybrid, what more could one ask for from a frozen treat?}



{Ice cream is generally fantastic all on its own, but who doesn’t love adding toping such as these Kraft sauces that were available circa 1959?}



{Frozen custard and chocolate ice cream, I can see why the gal spinning the records looks so excited!}



{Whether homemade or store bought, I have such a fondness for ice cream sandwiches. It’s so neat to know their design hasn’t changed much at all in the past fifty or more years.}



{A delectable assortment of ice cream flavours and tasty desserts to whet your appetite, from a vintage RCW freezer advert.}



{Anything – especially no-bake freezer desserts – that conjures up thoughts of snowmen is A-Ok with me when the mercury starts staring 100° in the face!.}



{During weeks as hot as this one had been, it really does seem like you need a larger-than-life sized 7-Up float to dive head (or perhaps more aptly "mouth") first into!}



{And what summer trip down memory lane would be complete without an image of children gathered round the ice cream man’s truck? Fascinating I found part of this exact same illustration used in another ice cream ad – certainly not an occurrence you chance upon every day in the vintage world!}

{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}


Few amongst us aren’t keen on a frozen treat of one kind or another. While I don’t eat sweets all that often, if I am going to indulge in an frozen goodie, I especially love sundaes, Creamsicles, soft serve, sorbets, and Italian gelatos. Thinking back to my childhood I was crazy for raspberry, tiger tail, cotton candy, rocky road, and black cherry ice cream as well as my mom’s homemade popsicles. What are your all-time favourite frozen desserts, the ones that make you scream with delight just thinking about them?

Summertime Classics {Monday Muses, August 3rd}

It’s a little bit hard to believe that we’re already well over a month into summer, less than two more to go until it will be time to wave sayonara to the dry, electric nights and drowsy, blisteringly warm mornings of this season. When shorts fade into ribbed tights, popsicles become overshadowed by straight-from-the-oven pumpkin pies, and the majestic blooms of gardens everywhere are replaced by a kaleidoscopic array of tumbling, crunchy leaves.

While this current season of extremes is still underway, I’ve found myself thinking about the elements that make summer so iconic. Those things that are the July equivalent to snowmen in December or tulips come April, and which speak to nearly everyone on as a collective whole. Simple pleasures, distinct moods, sun-kissed hues, the desire to escape the heat and yet an equal longing for it to linger, its presence like a memory that makes you smile more often than frown.

Every day of summer is a wild inspiration, the long desired relief from winter’s wrath, the fiery affair before level-headed autumn blows into town. So many places, scents, hues, people, and emotions fly into my mind when I think of this season the way it was lived when I was a child. Wisteria and honeysuckle branches tangoing on the back porch, canning peaches in a kitchen that had to have verged on 110 degrees. Countless – and I do mean truly mean countless – hours spent swimming in sparkling lakes, yet somehow never tiring in the least. Whiffs of barbeque smoke rising up into the crisply parched August air, so incredibly enticing in nature that you were tempted to start gnawing on your own shirt. Walks taken with dusty feet at dusk, the breeze from indigo clouds pushing the strands of sun-streaked hair from your face. The notes from certain wonderful, brilliant songs like “Sitting on the dock of the bay” and “I heard it through the grapevine” cascading into our laps as we sat on rickety lawn chairs around the flickering, dying embers of the backyard fire pit.

The older I get, the more I realize how truly dear I hold summer, what it means to me and why these things matter. To honour the summers of both past and present, a host of elements are my Monday Muses this week. Each one is inherent to the season, but in no way cliché; beautiful as a crimson sunset and special as the first time you tried a snow cone.

♥ ♥ ♥


{The three S’s of summer: sun, sand, surf}


{1. The Blonde on the Beam, 2. 40s swimsuit, 3. Aquamaids, Cypress Gardens, posing after a show, 4. 1960's fashion}


{The finest fruits Mother Nature can possibly create –
and the labels they once came packaged with}


{ 1. Cherry ripe, 2. Fresh Strawberries, 3. Vintage Fruit Crate Label 22, 4. When the fox cannot reach the grapes he says they are not ripe.}


{The lure of the open road}


{1. route 66. seligman, az. 2007., 2. Del Ray Beach Columbia (the Trailer) and Cadillac Lunch 1954, 3. Hollywood! 1956, 4. Pismo Beach, California - 1950's - from a postcard.}


{Flavours that embody a season}


{1. Happy Days, 2. Summer Time Cool..., 3. 365_263 / Roasting Marshmallows, 4. pecan craquelin, vanilla bean and flourless chocolate cake ice cream sandwiches.}


{Inexplicably perfect, intensely soothing light}


{1. osoyoos lake, 2. M A R M A L A D E . S U N S E T, 3. A Studebaker sunset, 4. The hottest day of summer so far was drawing to a close....}

{To visit an individual image, please click on the corresponding link below each collage.}


In many respects summer has evolved for me, or perhaps simply adapted as I’ve aged. Gone are the endless barefoot hours spent scorching my soles on radiator-hot sand, in their place are kisses with my love in the shade. Where once two months out of the year scarcely seemed like a heartbeat’s worth of time into which to cram scores of activities, we now find a single weekend spent soaking up the sun all it takes to send a thousand stresses fleeing from our minds.

Yet no matter my age, there are so many extraordinary things about summer that remain truly timeless, each one a gift, a reason to smile, the fuel that will get me through another harrowing Canadian January, a Muse in the truest sense of the word.

What, my dear readers, are your eternal sources of summer inspiration?

Five for Friday {July 24, 2009}

...This weekend is in need of uplifting serenity, respite from nagging worries, gentle moments spent listening to the breeze, and something fantastically sweet to take the occasionally bitter tinge off of everyday life...




{To keep you both cool and gorgeous at night}


{For everyday where I prefer nightgowns that veer towards gamine, charming pieces that could almost pass for the lightest of summer dresses, like this charming vintage number. 1950s Sweet Maiden white cotton nightgown, $45.00 (US) from Heavenly Vintage Lingerie.}


{To breathe new life into vintage linens}


{I spotted the incredibly cute idea of turning vintage pillowcases into children’s dresses at my sweet friend Karyn’s blog and have been thinking about it ever since. I fully believe that you could turn a pillow case into an adult size skirt too (perhaps with the addition of a second fabric), and am enamoured by idea now.}


{To celebrate the fact that cherry season is too short not to make the very best out of it!}


{One the most refreshing, perfectly suited to July recipes you could ever hope to encounter: cherry ice cream profiteroles with almond granita. Photo from, and recipe to be found on, the brilliant culinary blog, Dessert first.}


{To ensure one of the best elements of summer lives on all year long}


{The scent of line-dried or piping hot from the dryer cotton is one of the most relaxing and beautiful on earth, something that I wish I could have at the ready constantly. Fortunately, as this beautiful perfume attests to, I’m not the only one who feels this way. Clean Warm Cotton eau de perfume, $69.00 (US) from Clean Perfume.}


{To remind you of all the truly amazing everyday beauty in this world}


{Any and every photograph from the astonishingly fantastic, deeply gorgeous Flickr group Joyful Simplicities. 1. Untitled, 2. The butterfly room at Phipps Conservatory, 3. A warm welcome, 4. Lavender Harvest. Please click on a link to see a larger version of a particular image and/or for photographer information.}





Wishing you each a weekend filled whatever brings your heart bliss, days spilling over with tranquility and star-kissed evenings.