Place prepared graham cracker crust in freezer for 30-minutes
Bring cream cheese to room temperature
Add gelatin (Orange flavored Jello powder) to cold tap water; do not stir; let sit 15-minutes
Use a food processor or a stand/hand mixer- add softened cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract; cream mix till smooth
Add gelatin/water mixture to cream cheese mixture; pulse once or twice or combine well with paddle attachment or spatula
Pour mixture into chilled pie shell
Place in freezer for 4 hours
Remove pie from freezer (about 30-minutes before serving) and place in refrigerator
Garnish with whipped cream and mandarin oranges
Slice and serve
Notes
Tips:
Chill the crust - I put it in the freezer for about 30-minutes
Soften the cream cheese - room temperature
Mix the orange gelatin granules with water - let it sit for 15-minutes; don't stir it
Freeze the pie - when ready to serve, move it from the freezer to the fridge; let it sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes; if you don't let the crust thaw in the fridge, it sticks to the pie plate
Use a slightly warm knife to slice the cold pie - for a super clean slice, use a sharp butcher knife; run it under hot water for a few minutes; dry the knife, then stick the tip of the knife in the center of the pie and move the knife back...don't lower the handle to "slice" it-- just use the tip of the knife and drag it towards you
After you've made one slice; run the knife under warm water again; dry; slice; repeat
If your icebox pie gets runny, put it back in the refrigerator or freezer and wait awhile
Graham cracker pie crust: I find the ones in the store work just fine, but they're too skimpy so, I buy two crusts; take them out of the aluminum pan and crumble them up in a big bowl; melt a stick of butter; drizzle the butter over the crumbs; combine well
Pour buttered crumbs into your own 9"inch pie shell; using your fingers, pat the crumb mixture-packing it into a glass pie plate
If you're worried about serving "pretty slices," you might want to use small, individual 4-ounce graham cracker tart shells; this pie makes 2 cups of filling (16 ounces) so you'd need 4-6 individual shells