Turn dessert leftovers into an easy ice cream treat

(FOX 2) - This week, Jill Washburn, our Jill of All Trades, shows us an easy, fun dessert that is super simple to make. It’s a great way to stretch the last couple of pieces of pie or cake or whatever leftover dessert you have on hand.

Jill‘s family first experimented with this with a couple of pieces of leftover cheesecake. They wanted to stretch it for a handful of people and thought mixing it with ice cream was the answer. Turns out, it was genius!

Jill of All Trades: Easy Ice Cream Dessert

It's happened to everyone - most of the dessert gets eaten, but then there's always a little left. Not enough to share with everyone, but who could throw away perfectly-made dessert? Well, Jill Washburn has a solution, and all you'll need is a mixer.

First, they took a brand new carton of vanilla ice cream and softened it for a few seconds in the microwave. Then they put it into a mixing bowl and used the mixer to continue softening it just a bit. When it got more like a soft–serve ice cream consistency, they dumped in the leftover cherry-topped cheesecake that they had. Then they mixed it thoroughly.

When the consistency and color was uniform, they decided it was ready to serve. Jill had saved the original carton from the ice cream and scooped the new concoction back into the carton. At this point, if you needed to firm it up a little more, Jill says that you could put it back into the freezer for a bit to solidify.

Jill says that you could also make it a little fancier by using a piping bag and piping the mixture into dessert dishes. Nobody at Jill’s house wanted to wait that long to have dessert, so they just scooped it out.

It was phenomenal! Jill has also done this with a cherry pie and vanilla ice cream, and pecan pie in chocolate ice cream. Both were really good. Jill says that even cakes or cupcakes would work. So would many types of cookies, or even brownies.

You can get creative and think up countless flavor combos, says Jill. It’s an easy and entertaining project to do with the kids, especially in the winter when many ice cream stands are closed for the season.

And leftovers, if there are any, can easily be stored back in the freezer for another day.

PROJECT RATING: Super Easy

To watch Jill take you through the process, just click on the video player above.