This Butter Brickle Frozen Delight Recipe Is ‘Just as Dreamy as It Looks’

A name is everything, especially when it comes to recipes. Some of our readers’ favorite recipes have great names, but they’re the kind that don’t necessarily identify the dish as much as they provide clues and tell a story. Take the very popular Butter Brickle Frozen Delight recipe, for example. With a rare nearly five-star rating, its name is intriguing, but also confusing. What exactly is butter brickle? And how does it become a “frozen delight?” Of course I had to find out! 

What is Butter Brickle?

Butter brickle was originally a candy, invented in the early 1920s by candy manufacturer John G. Woodward and Co. in Council Bluffs, Iowa. A few years later, the chocolate-covered toffee confection became an ice cream mix and was manufactured by the Fenn Bros. Inc. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Over time, the flavor gained widespread popularity and was sold in chain grocery stores as butter-brickle-flavored ice cream.

How Do You Make Butter Brickle Frozen Delight?

The interesting thing about this recipe is that there’s no toffee, chocolate or ice cream in it! I love a good surprise like that, don’t you? The dessert is actually made in layers, starting with a graham cracker crust that’s baked in a springform pan. Next comes “crumble” which is made by combining flour, oats, melted butter, brown sugar, and pecans and baking until it’s golden and firm. 

Once the crust and crumble have cooled, you create the filling, which is a mixture of cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and frozen whipped topping. Half of the cream cheese mixture gets spread on top of the cooled crust, followed by half of the crumble and a healthy drizzle of jarred caramel sauce. The process is repeated one more time and then dessert heads for the freezer and stays there until it’s firm, which takes about four hours. 

Is Butter Brickle Frozen Delight Worth Making?

Holy heck, yes it is! And sure it’s not exactly the same as butter brickle or butter brickle ice cream—but I can see where it gets its name. All of the ingredients, once combined and frozen, create an ice-cream-like effect, but in cake form, and with that delightful crunchy crumble and caramel, it definitely gives off toffee vibes. The only thing that’s really missing is the chocolate, but trust me when I say you don’t need it. The dessert is plenty sweet as it is and adding chocolate might take it over the edge.

Bottom line: It’s a fun recipe to make and eat and next time I’ve got a potluck and I’m supposed to bring the dessert, this will be it.