If the Suns Out, the Spoons are Out – Mini Ice Cream Mud Pies Recipe

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It’s sweltering! Completely sweat-dripping, blister-inducing, heat-stroke-making HOT! I love living in Southern California, but we get no ocean breezes and the only wind that sweeps through is the steam engine kind. When we think of ways to cool down, there is pretty much only one way that tops our list every single time: ICE CREAM!

We have a community pool, but it’s not like being able to head out to the backyard and jump right into some cold water. Just the thought of packing up all our swim gear and either heading to the pool… or the beach (which is an hour away) is exhausting. The kids don’t even like going out to ride their bikes or walk to the park. Air conditioning is definitely where it’s at this time of year. So the fact that we’re all stuck in the house so much, we’ve had to come up with a few ways to not drive each other stir crazy. Keeping the kids busy is the key. Keeping my sanity while I’m keeping the kids busy is the bigger key.

I’m a list maker so it’s pretty typical that my kids would be list makers as well. Every summer they write out their bucket list… all the things they want to do over summer break. To them, summer break is still a magical time where you don’t have to follow a routine and you get to do all the things you can’t do during the school year. Oh poor little kids… you have no idea how quickly summer is going to fly by.

So, I thought I’d take their bucket lists and keep them kind of organized so know exactly what we need to accomplish this summer. I added mine to the mix as well since I’m the worst offender in terms of never getting anything done over summer.

I had this cool frame that’s been sitting around the house for years and since I hadn’t done anything with it, I thought it would be cute for this simple project. I created the tags for each one of us in PicMonkey and now we can all just tear off the items that we’ve accomplished. Hopefully by the time school starts again, we’ll have them all torn off.

And after all that hard work of going to the mall, boogie boarding at the beach, cleaning out closets, and redecorating rooms, we deserve a serious ice cream break! Good thing I have a stash of mini mud pie jars in the freezer.

These are incredibly easy and fun to make and you don’t have the mess in the freezer of a big mud pie oozing all over your shelves. The beauty of these is that you already have something special to serve for dessert after a BBQ, or as a spur-of-the-moment treat when you have company.

Mason jars are fabulous because they come in all shapes and sizes. I have larger ones I use for drinks, but these short ones are perfect for ice cream treats. During the summer, I’m all about convenience, so I used pre-made mini graham cracker crusts as my base. You can make your own, but honestly, when it’s already hot in the house… you won’t want to.

I used 2 mini pie crusts per jar so the bottom would be completely covered. Then I added Blue Bunny Homemade Vanilla ice cream, about 2 scoops. When you are making something like this, you want to make sure you have the very best ice cream. It really does make a huge difference. Blue Bunny has so many varieties that you can mix it up and add different toppings to your favorite. For me, the pure deliciousness of vanilla is the key. You can really taste all the flavors together and it’s like a jar full of heaven.

Next you’ll want to spoon in two heaping tablespoons of room temperature hot fudge. You don’t want it hot or you’ll just melt all the ice cream. If it’s too cold, it will be hard to spoon into the jars. Again, use really good quality hot fudge… or make your own.

Once you have everything in the jar, you can either add your whipped cream on top and serve… or you can put the mason jar tops back on and store in the freezer. I like to make a whole bunch of these and freeze them for when they are needed.

When you are ready to serve, take out and add your whipped cream, or any other toppings you like. You can definitely get creative and let the kids add their favorite candy, etc. Personally, I like the purity of the mud pie.

Walmart has a huge selection of Blue Bunny ice cream and novelty items so you have no excuse not to have a freezer full of treats this summer.

If you want to give Blue Bunny ice cream a try, select Walmart locations will be holding demos for the ice cream (and pairing it with Chips Ahoy – double win!) from July 2 – 4. Check to see if your store is on the list.

Leave me a comment with your favorite ice cream flavor.

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