Here’s some pictures of San’s birthday evening. Sara requested the Mud Pie recipe, so here it is! 
It was VERY delicious, but a once a year kind of dessert. . . or at least very seldom.
Doesn’t he have a wonderful smile!!
Auntie and I were having a hard time cutting the pie!
O.k. Now for the recipe. . . There are three steps to this recipe: 1) the crust, 2) the ice cream, 3) the chocolate syrup and the topping. Prepare the crust first, so it has time to cool. If you want to use the chocolate syrup recipe I used, it will need time to cool too. So, you’d prepare that next.
I got these recipes from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.
THE CRUST - (pg. 581)
Other types of chocolate sandwich cookies maybe substituted, but avoid any “double-filled” cookies because the proportion of cookie to filling won’te be correct. An equal number of Nutter Butter cookies may also be substituted for a peanut-flavored crust.
Makes – enough for one 9-inch pie (I used a deep dish pie pan)
Prep Time – 5 minutes
Total Time – 30 minutes, plus cooling time
Ingredients
16 Oreo cookings, broken into rough pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (completely)
1. Adjsut an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Pulse the cookies in a food processor until coarsely ground, about 15 short pulses. Then let the machine run until the crumbs are uniformly fine, about 15 seconds. With the machine running, pour the butter through thte feed tube and process until the misture resembles wet sand. Transfer the crumbs to the pie plate.
2. Use the bottom of a measuring cup to press the crums into an even layer on the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Bake until the crust is fragrant and looks set, about 15 minutes. Transfer the crust to a wire rack and let cool for about 30 minutes.
THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE – (pg. 653)
When whisking the sauce to combine, do so gently so as not to create air bubbles, which will mar its appearance. The recipe can be double.
I USED HALF OF THIS RECIPE
Makes – about 2 cups
Start to finish – 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream, plus extra as needed (used at the end, if need)
¼ cup light corn syrup
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
Pinch salt
8 ounces BITTERSWEET chocolate, chopped fine (Do not use unsweetened baking chocolate if you can’t find bittersweet chocolate, like I did. ☺
1. Bring the cream, corn syrup, butter, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Off the heat, stir in the chocolate, cover, and let stand until the chocolate ismelted, about 5 minutes.
2. Uncover and whisk gently until smooth. Adjust the consistency by heating stirring in additional cream as needed, t tablespoon at a time.
TO MAKE AHEAD
The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks. Reheat in a small saucepan over low heat or microwave, stirring often, until warm and smooth, 1 to 3 minutes.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER – (pg. 627)
The original recipe was a SIMPLE ICE CREAM PIE from this page, but I chose the Mud Pie option on the next page, so these next instructions won’t follow exactly from the book.
Final Ingredients
2 pints ice cream; coffee, mocha, chocolate are good choices. I used 1 pint Haagen Dazs Coffee and 1 pint Mocha, just to layer different flavors. If I make this again, (which I probably will . . . next year!) I would use Coffee and Chocolate, the Mocha was too close in color and flavor to the Coffee.
Slivered almonds
Whipped Topping Ingredients – I didn’t do, but you might like.
1 ½ cups heavy cream, chilled
2 tablespoons of sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Scoop the icream into bowl and work to soften. Spread the softened ice cream evenly over the cooled crust. The directions say to add the Chocolate sauce before freezing, but I would freeze it a little while. Because the ice cream is softened and the sauce has to be a little warm to spread, the sauce sinks into the ice cream. It’s o.k., but I’d like it to stay on top a little more. Before freezing the pie, spread 1 cup chocolate sauce over the top and sprinkle with toasted slivered almonds. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Freeze until firm, about 6 hours.
2. Remove the pie from teh freezer and remove the plastic wrap. Whip the cream, sugar and vamilla together in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form. Spread the whipped cream attractively over the top of the pie. Serve at once.
Delish!!!
