Root Beer Float Pie

(Photo by Taste of Home)

Doesn't a root beer float sound so tempting on a hot day?  Now, I am not a real root beer fan -- or a big fan of any sort of soda pop -- but now and again I do enjoy a frosty root beer float, or an ice cream float of another flavor.  I saw this pie in a Healthy Cooking magazine and decided to try it.  Here's the link:  Root Beer Float Pie.

I had a few problems with the recipe, which may be partly due to the fact that I decided to double it.  I was taking the pie to a potluck and thought two would be better than one.  It was supposed to chill in the refrigerator overnight, the recipe was very exact about that.  I did make them the day before the potluck to be sure they had enough time.  But after 6 or so hours in the fridge, it seemed obvious that this pie was never going to firm up enough to slice neatly.

(From looking at the reviews later, I saw that some others had had the same issue.  I don't care for sugar-free ingredients or diet soda and I had not used these versions of the ingredients.  I used regular root beer and regular instant pudding.  I'm not sure that is why the pies didn't firm up, but for whatever reason, they didn't.)

But at this point I hadn't read the reviews.  I had, however, invested money in ingredients and time making gluten free crumb crusts out of homemade gluten free vanilla cookies.  I was not about to waste all of that effort and money by tossing the pies in the trash, and I knew very few people would even try them if they looked this sloppy.  I decided to freeze the pies instead.  I took them out of the freezer a few minutes before serving to make them easier to slice.

Freezing the pies was definitely an inspiration!  They were delicious and really tasted much more like a real root beer float,  having been frozen.  Every bit of both pies was eaten.  I will make these pies again, and I will definitely freeze them.  (I think, though, that I will put them in the fridge for 5 to 6 hours first so the filling won't slide around as much as I'm positioning the pies in the freezer.)

If your family and friends enjoy root beer floats or just frozen ice cream desserts in general, they will enjoy these root beer float pies.  A perfect dessert for a hot summer day!