That's What Bob's Cooking: Mississippi Mud Pie

Friday, January 3, 2014

Mississippi Mud Pie

M-I-Crooked letter-Crooked letter-I-Crooked letter-Crooked letter-I-Humpback-Humpback-I....That is the way we would spell Mississippi when we young. I bring this up because when I found this recipe a few months ago, all I could think about was my dad and sister repeating this spelling again and again. And I kept repeating it while I was making this cake.

I found that this pie was a little more involved that most Mississippi Mud Pies, or dishes. But man was it incredible. When I make it again, and I will make it again, I will adjust the crust.....it was a little thick, and I would prefer not to use a premade cookie (Oreos). So I will be looking for an alternative...maybe graham cracker crumbs, flavored with chocolate....we'll see.

Mississippi Mud Pie

Ingredients

For the crust:

16 ounces Oreos (about 35-40 cookies)

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the cake:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 ounces dark chocolate (60-70%), chopped

2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1/4 cup Kahlua (or strong coffee at room temperature)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar, divided

For the chocolate pudding:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup corn starch

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large egg yolks

2 & 1/2 cups cream

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 ounces dark chocolate (60-70%)

For the whipped cream:

1 & 1/4 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Instructions

To make the crust:

Preheat oven to 300°. Lightly spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line pan with parchment. Spray parchment and sides of pan.

Place cookies in food processor and grind to a fine crumb. Transfer the crumbs (about 3 & 1/2 cups) to a small bowl. Pour melted butter over crumbs. Mix until combined.

Using the back of a spoon or your hands, press crumbs evenly into bottom and up sides of prepared pan. Place pan in freezer for about 10 minutes to let crust set.

Bake 10 minutes, or until crust is dry to the touch. Cool in pan on wire rack.

To make the cake:

Increase oven temperature to 350°.

Melt butter and chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Set aside to cool.

Whisk together espresso powder, Kahlua (or coffee), salt, and vanilla. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar until mixture is light and almost doubled in volume (about 5 minutes). Add chocolate mixture and beat until just combined. Scrape down sides and mix on low speed for 5 seconds. Add Kahlua mixture and beat until just combined. Scrape down sides and mix on low speed for 5 seconds.

In a separate bowl, still using the stand mixer and a clean whisk attachment, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually increase speed to high. Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Beat until soft peaks form.

Scoop about 1 cup of egg whites into chocolate mixture. Gently fold in egg whites for about 30 seconds. Add remaining egg whites and continue folding until they are almost combined. Do not overmix.

Pour batter onto cookie crust. Bake 38-42 minutes, until cake is set but jiggles slightly. Cool in pan on wire rack. As the cake cools, it will deflate in the center. Wrap cooled cake tightly and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

To make the chocolate pudding:

Whisk together sugar, cocoa powder, corn starch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Add egg yolks and whisk until combined and resembles a thick paste. Slowly pour in milk while whisking constantly.

Place saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly so it doesn’t burn on the bottom of pan. Boil for 30 seconds. Transfer to a medium bowl.

Add butter, vanilla, and chocolate. Whisk until combined. Continue whisking for a few minutes to cool mixture slightly. Let pudding stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pudding to prevent a skim from forming. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Stir pudding to loosen it. Pour on top of cake, staying inside crust border. Using an offset spatula, spread pudding evenly.

Refrigerate cake for at least 30 minutes.

To make the whipped cream:

Pour cream into chilled metal bowl. Beat with a chilled whisk until soft peaks form, about 1 minute. Sprinkle sugar onto cream. Continue whisking vigorously until stiff peaks form.

Spread whipped cream all the way to the sides on top of pudding layer of cake. Unmold cake and serve immediately.

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My Complete Profile

I was born and raised on the East side of Portland Oregon, by two native and second generation, Oregonians, my Mom and Dad (Jack and Joan). Oregon, and the Northwest are deep in my blood. That being said, I have always had an interest in cooking. I would love to add a warm loving story here about how my Mom nurtured my love of cooking by setting me up on or near the counter top to help with whatever she was cooking. Well, that's not exactly the case.

Being a child of the 70's and 80's, I had a great exposure to classic foods like Spam, Tang, Rice-a-Roni and Hamburger Helper. While many of these premade, sodium roller coaster, treats where regulars on our table, my Mom would have to hold the title as "casserole queen". Casseroles are her favorite and her specialty. Whereas, my Dad was more of a spur of the moment kind of cook. His creations included many of the items from our makeshift pantry. Sometimes, i think he was thinking, "the more ingredients, the better it'll be!". I think my first attempt at cooking would have to have been making cookies, either peanut butter (with the criss-cross fork tine print on top), or chocolate chip cookies. Over the years I have made so many of both of these recipes, I have surely lost count.

During middle school, my Mom encouraged me to take Home Economics, thinking that all kids, boy or girl, should know how to cook out in this world. This sparked a growing interest in cooking. So when I entered my junior year of High School, at David Douglas, I enrolled in the culinary arts program, we called it Food Services I. This was a class that had been offered many years before, where the students ran a restaurant, The Kilt, during the lunch periods. Unfortunately, since the class had not been offered in several years, so we didn’t have enough students to open the restaurant, that year. Within the first few weeks of this class, my instructor asked if I'd like to be involved in an outside "club" (kind of like a version of Eagle Scouts) that was mentored by local business owners. It sounded interesting so I joined (not to mention it got me out of the first 2 periods of the day).

At our first meeting I was approached by Sylvia Poesdel, the owner of the Portland landmark restaurant, Sylvia's Italian Restaurant & Dinner Theatre. She asked me if I would be interested in an afterschool job, coming to work for her to learn the cooking/chef trade on the job. I jumped at the chance and started in October of 1985. During my senior year I rejoined the culinary arts program (Food Services II) and this year we were able to reopened the restaurant, which the rest of the students voted me to manage. I just absolutely loved it! I worked at Sylvia's until after I graduated, in 1989. I learned a lot about the restaurant industry, and I would have to say it would be one of just a few life altering jobs I have had throughout my career.

After high school, while I was working at Sylvia's, I applied to culinary arts school. The Two things kept me from continuing my career in culinary arts, were financial and having worked out in the field, I saw so many negative attributes to being a chef, I decided that since I love to cook, I wanted it to be a hobby, and not a drag to go work each day.

When I left Sylvia's, I worked at a hotel, then Safeway. From there I joined Fred Meyer in the Service Deli, and was quickly promoted to a manager. During the next 8 years, I worked throughout the Portland and Southern Oregon areas. In 1998, I earned a promotion to the regional specialist position (District Manager) in Seattle. During this career move, I learned so much about the Food Service industry. I was charged to develop a new service salad case program, as well as work on a new catering program. I had the opportunity to work with manufacturers to develop these new programs.

In 2000, I met the love of my life, Craig. I also, moved from the food service program to the grocery department as an assistant manager. In the capacity I learned to develop my management skills as well as managing inventory. By being the best in my category, I earned the position of manager, where I moved from store to store cleaning up and reorganizing as I went. I also was entrusted with training future Food managers for the region. At which point I was pursued by another company to run a store for them, and enter back into the restaurant industry. During these 3 years, I learned the Restaurant Supplier side of the business. While I enjoyed the time I spent in this opportunity, I yearned to go back to the Grocery industry, and spend more time with my first love, cooking, and writing about my adventures….in the kitchen!