Rich, chocolatey goodness all wrapped up in a mud pie. What could be better? Well make the crust gluten-free and you have a top notch dessert that even someone with gluten intolerance can thoroughly enjoy.Last week a lovely cookbook arrived in the post. One, to be honest, I had forgotten I had pre-ordered. I was grinning like the Cheshire cat when I opened the parcel and found this beauty of a book waiting for me!
This cookbook is absolutely gorgeous! It is jam packed with fantastic recipes, baking tips and stunning photos. For example:
But the recipe that caught my immediate attention was Mud Pie. Does it have chocolate in it? Uh, ya, LOTS of dark chocolate. A crazy amount in fact. The chocolate is melted with butter and then mixed with eggs and two kinds of brown sugar. The filling is then simply poured into a cookie crumb crust and baked to perfection for 50 minutes.
Which brings me to the crust. The original recipe called for chocolate digestive biscuits. I wanted to make this pie totally gluten-free so I was initially a tad stumped until I remembered the box of GF chocolate animal crackers in the pantry. I simply swapped out the digestive biscuits for the same weight in crackers. I used my trusty little food processor to grind them up to a fine texture them simply combined them with melted butter and pressed the crust into the springform pan. I was worried the gluten-free crackers wouldn't hold up during baking time or worse, fall apart when it was pie cutting time. I obviously had no reason to fear either because the pie turned out perfectly. If you want to use regular cookies though then just measure out 250 grams of chocolate biscuits or Oreo cookie crumbs. Grind whole biscuits to a fine texture.
I used this brand of GF cookies and they were wonderful.
I will definitely use these again in any crust requiring a cookie crumb base.
You can serve a slice of this pie plain but it is also lovely topped with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with caramel sauce.I will definitely use these again in any crust requiring a cookie crumb base.
The family LOVED it and I can guarantee this is now on our list of fave desserts.
Are you ready? You will need your kitchen scale handy because all ingredients are weighed, not measured. Let's get baking !
RECIPE:
*adapted source recipe: Mud Pie, The Great British Bake Off, How To Bake The Perfect Victoria Sponge and Other Baking Secrets
WHAT YOU NEED
BASE
250 grams dark chocolate biscuits
50 grams unsalted butter, melted
FILLING
200 grams 70% dark chocolate, chopped
200 grams unsalted butter, cubed
4 large eggs at room temperature
100 grams light brown sugar
100 grams dark brown sugar
200 grams heavy cream (35%+ fat) - measure cream and leave out at room temperature for 1 hr before making the filling
MAKE IT
GREASE a 9" SPRINGFORM pan with cooking spray
PREHEAT oven to 350F
IN FOOD PROCESSOR, grind biscuits to a fine consistency
IN MEDIUM BOWL, stir together biscuits and melted butter
WITH FINGERS, press the biscuit mixture into the pan creating a crust - cover the bottom and 1/2 way up the sides with crust mixture
IN A DOUBLE BOILER, gently melt chocolate and butter . Stir to combine and set aside to cool
IN BOWL OF STAND MIXER, fitted with whisk attachment, beat eggs on high speed for 2-3 minutes or until frothy
ADD in sugars and continue beating on high speed for 5 minutes. The mixture will take on a thick mousse-like consistency
ADD cooled chocolate mixture and heavy cream
WHISK just until combined
POUR filling into crust
BAKE on middle rack of oven for 50 minutes
REMOVE pie and place tin on cooling rack
LET pie cool for 5 minutes then run a knife around the outside of the crust to help prevent breakage later on when removing from pan
LET cool completely
UNCLIP pan and gently release sides from pie
DIG IN !
