Once you cross the state lines, you know you’ve entered a different world. Mountains coated in lush green forests cover most if not all of your horizon. Vermont is called the Green Mountain State for a reason but there’s more to this area than just greenery. It’s a place still full of old farmhouses and dairylands so expansive it’ll feel like you’ve walked into a milk commercial. It’s here that the best treat fuses the dairy-heavy lands and the gift of trees all in one — maple creemees. Here Vermont’s mainstay ice cream comes to you in a sliceable all-season form called Vermont Maple Creemee Pie.

Unless you live or visited Vermont then the word creemee may just look like a typo, but rest assured it’s not. What makes creemees different from soft serve is up to debate, but fans insist that creemees have a richer, higher butterfat content than your average soft serve. In Vermont, summer ice cream stands will sell a variety of flavors but none are as renowned as the maple creemee. Combining Vermont’s two stellar products — maple syrup and dairy — into one dessert makes it a regional specialty.

Here this Vermont Maple Creemee Pie is like eating this icy treat but in a sliceable form. A simple but buttery pie crust houses a maple-flavored custard that’s made with plenty of rich egg yolks, milk, and cream.

To make things simple I opted to use a store-bought pie crust. After rolling it out and pricking the dough with a fork a few times, I set it back into the freezer to set it up. I blind-baked the pie crust, which sounds fancier than it is. Essentially you cover the pie crust with parchment pie and fill the parchment-lined pie crust with pie weights, dried beans, or dry rice. The weight will prevent the pie crust from sliding down the pie pan and keep the crust from puffing up.

Just like a rich egg-based ice cream, we’re going to make an ice cream base. Milk, heavy cream, cornstarch, brown sugar, and maple syrup get whisked in a saucepan. Since we have a lot of liquids, adding cornstarch to the mix helps the creemee mixture firm up. Once it gets to a boil, temper the egg yolks by adding a few ladles of the hot mixture into the bowl with the egg yolks. Once the egg yolks get to a similar temperature as the creemee mixture, whisk the egg yolks into the saucepan, and continue to stir until the mixture looks thickened.

Strain the creemee mixture to remove any possible lumps and then whisk in the vanilla. Now the creemee mixture and crust will unite at last! Carefully pour the custard into the warm pie crust and continue to bake the pie for another 10 to 15 minutes. The edges of the custard will firm up slightly but the center will still be very soft. Once out of the oven let the pie cool to room temperature. If you put the pie into the fridge too quickly the custard will get cracks in it.

You have to wait at least six hours before trying to slice into it, but I waited more and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

Garnished with a bunch of whipped cream, this pie truly has something over other pies. This tastes like maple creemee ice cream baked in a crust, the milk and cream soften the sweetness from the brown sugar and maple.

The maple is pronounced without being overpowering and will give you the best injection of maple out there (it may top syrup with pancakes)!