This week I thought I’d continue the DESSERTster trend and bring you my award winning Mudslide Pie. It’s actually a combination of my favorite things to make pies about…types of disasters, and alcoholic beverages! This pie came about originally as a sort of experiment. I had a friend who needed a pie for a coworker’s birthday and the only specifications were “they like chocolate and alcohol.”

So I set to work. What alcoholic drink could possibly translate into a pie and would go well with chocolate? Then I remembered the mudslide…a delicious cocktail with vodka, coffee liqueur, and baileys (that would check off the alcohol portion of the request). All of those flavors would pair SUPER well with chocolate, so I was off and running with my pie. Mudslide reminded me of a REALLY good kind of chocolate pie called the “Mississippi Mud Pie”, which would be a perfect place to start for this one.

This dessertster is going to hit a little close to home for those of us native Californians, so we wont need too much to get into the proper mindset. But for those of you who don’t currently reside in California or are not quite as familiar with the natural disasters that take place here…..picture this.

You’ve just purchased your dream home on a hillside overlooking the pacific ocean. You’ve worked your butt off to get here, and boy was it worth it. From your backyard you’ve got sweeping views of ocean, and what used to be beautiful green brush along the hillside, but is now dead from a very dry summer. That’s okay though, you’ve heard that it’s going to be a wet winter. An El Niño year, if you will, where there will be plenty of rainfall to bring those beauties back to life. Maybe even some wildflowers will bloom in spring.

Fast forward to the fourth storm of the winter and it’s POURING rain. You’re enjoying a nice cup of coffee while reading your latest book, and just listening to the rain tap upon the roof. You hear a faint rumbling sound but shrug it off as a truck passing by. The rumbling grows louder, but you still ignore it because ignoring this is easier than actually dealing with them. After a particularly loud rumble and a crack you look outside and notice that you backyard fence has split down the middle and you can see straight out to the sea. "Crap” you think “that’s not good.”

You recognize these as signs of a mudslide, and you start to panic. Suddenly, there’s a loud cacophony of sounds as the ground beneath you shakes. It scares you so much you close your eyes and grab on to the closest sturdy thing you can find.

Then it stops.

You look around and everything seems to be in order…but then you look out your window and notice that your backyard fence is just….gone. With a major catastrophe averted, you sign in relief and decided you need to do something to keep your mind off of it, and also maybe add a splash of baileys to your coffee to calm your nerves. This gives you an idea, “I should bake something to keep me from dwelling on the fact that I almost just died alone, and this baileys reminds me of my favorite (and frankly quite appropriate) cocktail…a MUDSLIDE!” You laugh at the stupid joke you just made to yourself, and get to work….

First things first…start with the crust. Basically make a graham cracker crust but substitute oreo crumbs for the graham crumbs. Combine 2 c. oreo crumbs, 67 g. sugar, ¼ tsp salt and 3 oz. browned butter in a bowl and mix together until combined.

Pour it into a pie tin and press firmly along the bottom and up the sides to make the crust. Then put it into the freezer for at least 10 minutes while you make the filling.

For the filling you’ll need to start by weighing your dark chocolate and butter into a heat safe bowl and setting it over a pot filled with water on the stove. You can also microwave it in 15 second intervals until it’s completely melted, just make sure to take it out to mix it in-between.

set that aside and in the bowl of your stand mixer, put your 2 separated Egg whites. Put your yolks in a separate bowl. Attach your whisk attachment to you mixer and start whipping your egg whites on medium speed (like 5 or 6). Once they’re nice and foamy, pour your granulated sugar into the mixer while it’s still mixing. Let those whip until you get nice stiff peaks.

Meanwhile, pour your brown sugar in with your yolks and whisk that by hand until they’re nice and fluffy and lighter in color. At this point add in your coffee, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla to the yolks and whisk that until it’s completely incorporated and no chunks of cocoa remain.

Pour the melted chocolate and butter into the bowl with the yolks, and mix until smooth. It should look something delicious like this:

Once your egg whites are whipped, pour them into the bowl with everything else, and gently fold them in like so…

Your oven should be pre-heated to 325ºF, if it isn’t do that now. Then remove your chilled pie crust from the freezer and pour your newly made filling in. (you may end up with a little extra filling but hopefully not too much)

Throw that sucker into the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the top of it has formed a kind of shell and starts to crack like so:

Once It’s ready, remove it from the oven and let it cool COMPLETELY. It needs to be totally cold because you’re going to be putting whipped cream on top and if it’s hot at all, that whipped cream will melt off faster than your backyard fence melted off down the side of the hill.

Speaking of which, has this worked to distract you from your impending doom? I hope so, if not go ahead and take this time while your pie cools to go walk around the edge of your house to make sure nothing else is going to go tumbling down into the ocean below. You can also contemplate your own mortality while looking over the edge of the newly created cliff as the rain trickles down your face.

Then just shrug it off and return back inside like nothing is wrong because not dealing with emotions is DEFINITELY way healthier than dealing with them. Now you’re in the final stretch and before you know it, you’ll have eaten enough chocolate and pie to put yourself into a deep deep food coma.

Time to make the whipped cream! Pour your 2 cups of heavy cream, stabilizer or corn syrup (whichever you have) and powdered sugar into your mixer with the whisk attachment on, and turn it up to medium/high. Let that whip until medium peaks, then stop it to add your Baileys, vodka, and Kahlúa. Let that whip to stiff peaks, then scrape it into a piping bag with a closed star tip on it. (or if you’re really impatient to eat so much pie you can’t move, you can always just dump the whipped cream directly onto the pie and serve it that way!)

Pipe some rosettes or whatever your little heart desires onto the top of the pie. You just escaped death, the world is your oyster now! Lastly, dust some cocoa powder on top and put it back into the fridge for just a little bit to set. Then EAT THE SH*T OUT OF THAT PIE and enjoy your new lease on life!

Mudslide Pie

prep time: 30 mins
cook time: 20-25 mins
total time: 50-55 mins

Servings: 1 pie

Crust:

Ingredients:

2 c. Oreo Crumbs
3 oz. Butter, Browned
67 g. Granulated Sugar
¼ tsp. Salt

Instructions:

Brown butter on stove
Combine oreo crumbs, sugar, and salt into a bowl and mix until evenly mixed together
Pour browned butter in and mix until it sticks together when pressed down.
Dump into pie tin and press down firmly along the inside and up the sides.
Chill in freezer for at least 15 mins.

Filling:

Ingredients:

2 ea. Eggs, Separated.
2 T + 2 tsp Brown Sugar
2 T + 2 tsp Granulated Sugar

1 T + 1 tsp Coffee (liquid)
1 tsp. Cocoa Powder
1 pinch Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla

60 g. Dark Chocolate
20 g. Butter

Instructions:

Melt chocolate and butter together in either a bane marie or in the microwave, stiring frequently to make sure the chocolate doesn’t burn.
Separate your eggs, put the whites into the bowl of your mixer, and the yolks into a separate large bowl.
Start mixing your egg whites with the whisk attachment
Once they’re slightly foamy, pour in the granulated sugar, and let them whip to stiff peaks.
While those whip, whisk together your yolks and the brown sugar until they’re fluffy and lighter in color.
Add the coffee, cocoa, vanilla, and salt and whisk until there aren’t any more chunks of cocoa.
Pour the melted chocolate/butter in with the yolk mixture and mix until combined.
Once the egg whites are ready, gently fold those into everything else.
Pour into your chilled pie shell and bake at 325ºF for about 20-25 minutes or until a shell forms on top and starts to crack.
Let the pie cool completely before adding the whipped cream on top.

Mudslide Whipped Cream:

Ingredients:

2 c. Heavy Cream
¼ c. Powdered Sugar
1 T. Corn Syrup (or whipped cream stabilizer)
1 T. Vodka
2 T. Baileys
1 T. Kahlúa

Instructions:

Whip together cream, corn syrup and powdered sugar to medium peaks
Add vodka, baileys, and Kahlua and whip to stiff peaks
Pipe (or just pour) onto top of completely cooled pie.
Enjoy!