Mississippi Mud Pie

Crumbly chocolate cookie crust. Dense chocolate cake. Topped with silky rich chocolate pudding. This is one deliciously decadent and amazingly good chocolate pie. I made this tasty treat for my very dear, chocolate-loving friend Wing for her 21st birthday. I knew I was going to make her a chocolate pie since she adores chocolate (almost more than anything else) and likes pie more than cake, but I wanted to do something more special than your typical chocolate pudding pie with a cookie crumb crust.

So I went to my good friend foodgawker and was not disappointed, I almost immediately found this recipe for Mississippi Mud Pie. Don’t be intimidated by its length. It is an undertaking and takes lots of bowls, spoons, beaters, and chocolate covered surfaces, but it’s quite doable and very much worth the effort. Taken individually, each of the three steps is very straightforward. I made the cookie crust the night before, then made the cake and pudding during a less than 2 hour midday lunch break, so that the pie was all ready to put together and serve after dinner. I like to take my time when I bake and make sure I’m doing things right, so if I could make this pie that quickly, then you certainly can too.

As I mention in the recipe directions, the flourless chocolate cake will puff up A LOT when you bake it (see picture below). I was a bit horrified when I pulled it out of the oven and worried that it wouldn’t deflate. I also couldn’t stop thinking about how much it looked like the souffle that Queen Celeste makes in a beloved book from my childhood, “Babar Learns to Cook.” I think souffle is next on my list of desserts to make. Anyway, as the cake cools it will deflate and leave plenty of room for the delicious chocolate pudding topping.

The story of this pie would not be complete without a few words about my lovely friend. I made this pie for Wing because she is one of my very best friends. For me, it was one small way of saying thank you to her for our friendship. Besides teaching me math (most memorably Calculus II over the phone one summer) and dealing with the raw meat when we cook dinner together (my germaphobic self appreciates this so much), she is insightful, smart, extremely funny, my official taste tester in the kitchen, and the best critic of any food I make. This girl has supported, comforted, and been there for me in more ways than I could ever list. Not only that, but she understands and puts up with me as well. I am so, so thankful for our friendship.

So make this pie for your best friend, for someone you love, or for someone who simply loves chocolate. I promise they will appreciate it.

P.S. Speaking of friends, all the photos in this post (except the one above) were taken by my wonderful and extremely talented friend Carrie Sloane. Thank you Carrie!

 

Mississippi Mud Pie

Recipe adapted from Bake Me Blush, where it was adapted from Baked Explorations

Crust
1 package of Oreo cookies (about 35 cookies), crushed
5 Tbsp butter, melted

Flourless Chocolate Cake
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
6 oz dark chocolate, chopped, or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1-2 Tbsp instant coffee crystals
1/4 c. strong coffee, at room temperature
1/4  tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 c. sugar

Chocolate Pudding
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
4 large egg yolks
2 1/2 c. milk
3 Tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz dark chocolate, chopped, or semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the crust

Preheat the oven to 300° F. Spray, grease or butter a 9-inch springform pan. (*Note: I used a 9 inch pie plate since I don’t have a springform pan with me at school, and it worked very well. Just be careful not to make the crust too thick, you will not need all of the cookie crumbs.)

Using a blender or food processor, grind the cookies until they are very small crumbs. In a medium bowl combine the cookie crumbs and melted butter, stir well.

Press the crumbs into the springform pan or pie plate. Leave about a half inch between the top of the crust and the top of the pan. Freeze the crust for 10 minutes, then bake for 10 minutes. Cool before filling.

For the Flourless Chocolate Cake

Increase oven temperature to 350° F. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler. Let cool.

Whisk together the instant coffee crystals, coffee, salt, and vanilla in a small bowl.

In a standing mixer, beat the egg yolks with 1/2 cup of the sugar. Beat until it has doubled in volume and is light, for about 4-5 minutes. Add the melted butter and chocolate, beat until combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Then add the coffee mixture and beat until combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl again.

In a clean bowl with clean beaters (*make sure everything that touches the egg whites while they are being beaten is VERY clean or soft peaks will not form), beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Increase the speed and add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. Beat until soft peaks form.

A cup at a time, scoop the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate using a rubber spatula. Continue adding egg whites and folding in until everything is just combined. (*At this point the batter will change to a much lighter brown color from the addition of the egg whites and will be very airy and almost foamy.) Be careful not to overmix!

Pour this batter into the cooled cookie crust and bake 36-42 minutes. (*Since I used a pie plate instead of a springform pan, I couldn’t fit all of the cake batter into my crust. Pour as much as will fit into the crust, making sure to leave an edge of crust exposed all along the top edge.)

The cake is done when it looks set but jiggles slightly when moved, it might not look fully cooked. The cake is going to puff up a lot, like a souffle! Don’t worry though, it will shrink and deflate as it cools and leave enough space for the chocolate pudding to go on top. Cool the cake completely be wrapping in plastic wrap and refrigerating at least 3 hours or overnight.

For the Chocolate Pudding

In a saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa power, cornstarch, and salt. Then add the egg yolks and whisk everything together until well combined. Next slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly until combined.

Put the saucepan over medium heat and bring it to a boil, whisking CONSTANTLY the entire time, or you will have sad burned chocolate pudding and nothing to top your lovely pie. Boil the pudding for 30 seconds (it will get thick and gloppy and start to actually look like pudding; also be careful of bursting bubbles and boiling chocolate pudding, it hurts if those land your your arms!)

Transfer the pudding to a medium bowl and add the butter, vanilla, and chocolate, whisking until everything is well combined. Whisk the pudding a bit longer to help it cool down. Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, then press plastic wrap onto its surface (this prevents a skin from forming) and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours.

Assembling the Pie

Stir the pudding a bit to loosen it, then pour it on top of the cake, spreading it into an even layer with a spatula. Refrigerate about 30 minutes longer (if you’re pressed for time I think you could pretty safely skip this step).

Decorate with whipped cream if you like. I thought the chocolate pudding was so pretty and chocolately on top that it didn’t need any whipped cream decoration, so I just served it on the side with each slide.