Frozen Lime Dessert

(This recipe was first posted in conjunction with the Meijer Ad Week of 1/15/12-1/21/12)

This refreshing dessert is sort of "summery", but we enjoy it year-around. 

Ingredients:

Crust:
3 cups Ritz cracker crumbs (generic brand is fine!)

1 stick + 6 Tbsp margarine, melted
2 Tbsp + 2 tsp sugar
Filling:
1 - 1.75 qt container vanilla ice cream
1 1/2 - 32 oz containers of lime sherbet
Topping:
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cups sugar
1 stick plus 4 Tbsp margarine
4 eggs, beaten well

Directions:
Take the sherbet and vanilla ice cream out of the freezer.  Allow to soften for at least 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare the crust:  mix crust ingredients together and press into a 9x13 pan.  Put in the freezer.  Prepare filling:  after ice cream and sherbet are sufficiently softened, beat together until smooth.  Remove crust from freezer, pour filling over crust, and return pan to freezer.  Allow to harden at least four hours.  Prepare topping: cook all topping ingredients together in a pan on the stovetop.  Begin cooking on VERY low until margarine is melted, then gradually increase heat a little at a time until burner is at medium.  Stir continually while increasing heat, until topping is thickened.  Cool, then pour over ice cream filling.  Store in freezer. 

Options and Tips

• The original recipe actually called for 1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream, but most ice cream brands are not packaged in a full 1/2 gallon anymore.  If you prefer an even stronger lime taste, use less ice cream and more sherbet. I use APPROXIMATELY the amount of sherbet I referenced in the recipe, but I don't measure it exactly. 
•  DO NOT put the topping on until the filling layer is frozen HARD and the topping is COMPLETELY cool.  The topping will sink into the filling, and you'll have a sloppy mess.  Yes, I'm speaking from experience here!
• If you are impatient and cook the topping too quickly on too high of a temperature, the egg bits will start to "set" and you will have pieces of "scrambled egg" in your topping.  Again, speaking from experience!  If this happens to you, you can "strain" out most of the pieces by pulling a slotted spoon through the topping...again and again and again.  It's a pain, but at least you won't have to start over.
• This is a great make-ahead dessert, and keeps nicely in the freezer for at least a month.

This recipe (in its original form) can be found on pg 157 of the Adams "Kitchen Kaleidoscope" cookbook.  I altered it by doubling the crust and topping, but if you prefer less crust and less topping, you can follow the original recipe from the cookbook.