Butter Brickle Dessert -- A Sweet Reward at the End of a Long August

August. The hospital running through a Delta wave that is real and taxing. The floor has adapted -- we've been in pandemic protocols for seventeen months and the adaptation is woven into how we work now, but there is a quality of endurance exhaustion in the staff that I recognize because I feel it too. You run the same protocol long enough and it stops being extraordinary. You keep running it anyway because that's the job.

Nora at sixteen months is talking in bursts now -- two-word combinations, "more milk," "Yam up" for Liam pick me up, "Mama work" with a specific tone when I leave for a shift. "Mama work" is not a complaint. It is a categorization. She is filing where Mama goes. She is keeping track. She knows I come back. She has always known I come back. This is the thing the object permanence games at eleven months were building toward and here it is: she knows I come back and she files it and she is fine while I am gone and she comes to me when I return. We have built this. This is the point of all of it.

No movement on the house front. Two more houses on the schedule for this week and the next. I am waiting. I am not great at waiting but I have gotten better at it.

Grilled peaches with vanilla ice cream and a little brown sugar this week, because the peaches at the farm stand were reaching their peak and peak peaches on a grill in August are something that does not require embellishment.

The peaches that week were the whole point — peak August fruit, a hot grill, a scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside. But when I wanted something I could put together ahead of a shift and have waiting in the freezer, this Butter Brickle Dessert was the answer: it has that same vanilla-and-caramel logic, the same sense of “summer is right here and it doesn’t need anything extra.” It’s the kind of dessert that takes twenty minutes to assemble and rewards you hours later, which felt exactly right for the kind of week it was.

Butter Brickle Dessert

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 4 hrs 20 min (includes freezing) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened to spreadable consistency
• 2 packages (3.4 oz each) instant butterscotch pudding mix
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 cup butter brickle toffee bits (such as Heath Bits ’O Brickle)
• 1/4 cup caramel sauce, for drizzling

Instructions

1. Make the crust. In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar. Stir until evenly moistened. Press firmly into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes to set.
2. Mix the filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the instant butterscotch pudding mix and milk for 2 minutes until thickened. Add the softened vanilla ice cream and fold together until smooth and fully combined.
3. Layer the dessert. Pour and spread the ice cream filling evenly over the chilled crust. Smooth the top with a spatula.
4. Add the toppings. Spread the thawed whipped topping over the filling in an even layer. Sprinkle the butter brickle toffee bits generously across the top. Drizzle with caramel sauce.
5. Freeze until firm. Cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 415 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 21g | Carbs: 53g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 370mg