Nestled along Aviles Street, just off the main downtown drag, you’ll find one of St. Augustine’s most delectable desserts. The family-owned Peace Pie, locally owned and managed by Maryrose LaCavera, offers up some amazingly tasty twists on the pretty simple (though tried and true) ice cream sandwich. Each “pie” contains not only some of the best ice cream you’re likely ever to taste but also a layer of homemade pie filling that’s second to none.
While the selection of some 40-odd flavors changes daily, there are a few which simply should not be missed. One such flavor is the Cinnamon Bun.
The Cinnamon Bun pie starts out with two cinnamon shortbread cookies which are crafted from an in-house recipe. These days, Peace Pie has its cookies baked for them, but the recipe is still all “Peace Pie” and all ridiculously good. The cookies are light and crunchy and a perfect compliment to the other ingredients which find their way between them.
A homemade vanilla mousse is layered onto one cookie, each offers a foundation for a layer of caramel (which would be impossibly gooey if it wasn’t frozen!). While this combination could certainly do just fine on its own as a dessert, the cookies, mousse, and caramel are a mere set up for the true star of this show: brown sugar ice cream.
If you’ve never had brown sugar ice cream, it’s because there simply aren’t too many places which have it. The staff at Peace Pie pride themselves on their homemade ice creams, and well they should. The brown sugar ice cream quickly conjures up the sensation of sinking your teeth into a warm cinnamon roll, and it tastes every bit as good.
So, when you finish your dinner elsewhere downtown, remember to leave yourself a little time to make the walk to get a Cinnamon Bun Peace Pie.
Peace Pie is located at 8 Aviles Street. You can visit them online at www.peacepieworld.com. Photography by Steve Parr.
