Favorite Things Friday - HULA PIE

So as you read in my last post, we had the chance to take a little trip to Maui. It was lovely weather and our hotel was wonderful. I felt a little guilty going (we had planned this about 6 months ago) with the economy, but somehow I managed to get over my feelings and indulge in the moment.

Before we went, I read on tripadvisor that a must was Hula Pie. Luckily the restaurant (Leilani's on the Beach) that serves this was just down the street within walking distance. So we indulged in this not just once, but twice. I now am sporting a hula pie belly which I am now working on reducing.

I realize that not everyone can run to Maui for Hula pie, but after eating it twice, I decided it wouldn't be that hard to make. So here is a picture and my idea for the recipe (which I will tweek after I try making it here).



Hula Pie

1 box Oreo cookies
3 ounces melted butter
1/2 gallon macadamia nut ice cream (or soften vanilla ice cream and stir in chopped macadamia nuts)
Heavy, dark chocolate fudge topping
Diced macadamia nuts
Whipped cream

Crush cookies until there are no large pieces. Blend in butter. Press firmly onto the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan or cake pan. Freeze until hard.

Soften ice cream until you can mold it with a spatula or large "putty knife." Fill cake pan evenly, molding an even dome of ice cream. Freeze 4 hours or until very hard. Spread with dark fudge topping (use hot water to smooth it) as thick as you like. Freeze for 1 hour, unmold, cut with hot, wet knife and garnish with nuts and whipped cream.

Serves 8-12.


And because I can't just stick with one favorite thing, I need to add another favorite was Shave Ice. When you are in Hawaii, know that it is NOT called "snowcone" or "shaved ice". You will be immediately recognized as a tourist and mocked for the rest of your vacation. It is just plain "shave Ice" and the best place on Maui to get it is Local Boys in Kihei.


They have a plethera of flavors plus they put the vanilla ice cream on the bottom and when requested, Kauai cream poured over the top. The most important thing is that the ice is shaved which makes is soft. Unlike snow cones where it is chopped off the ice block and more crunchy. So when in Maui, get a shave ice at Local Boys stand.



This Mark's shave ice in the process of being made.



This is my shave ice as I am eating it. They did melt a little quickly, but that was because it was in the 80's. When we took our kids to Maui a few years ago, several nights we opted for the shave ice instead of getting dinner. But hey, we were on vacation.