This Simple Retro Dessert Encompasses a Jaw-Dropping Quantity of Chocolate

Should you’ve ever checked out a chocolate pie and thought to your self, “I want this had extra chocolate,” then Mississippi mud pie is for you. Every of its three mouthwatering layers—crunchy chocolate cookie crust, fudgy brownie middle, and creamy pudding high—options an eye-bulging quantity of chocolate. And whereas the completely different layers of this intense chocolate pie are mentioned to be named for the Mississippi River’s silty backside, there’s nothing muddy about its taste or texture. 

To create this mighty chocolate expertise, our Birmingham, Alabama-based check kitchen colleague Elizabeth Mervosh baked pie after pie earlier than touchdown on this chocolate-laden recipe under. Right here’s tips on how to good every layer on this delightfully indulgent chocolate dessert.

The Excellent Crispy Chocolate Crust Requires Simply Three Substances

This easy chocolate cookie crust depends on simply three elements—cookie crumbs constituted of chocolate sandwich cookies (resembling Oreos), melted butter, and salt—to ship a crust that is pleasantly candy and wealthy in taste. Merely pulse chocolate cookies in a meals processor, then mix the crumbs, butter, and a little bit of salt in a bowl, and eventually press the combination evenly right into a pie plate.

We like utilizing store-bought or home made Oreo cookies. In our assessments, we  discovered it greatest (and best) to maintain the filling with the cookies—the filling enhances the crust’s creamy texture, making it simpler to press and mildew into the pie plate. Or should you desire, you should utilize the identical weight of unfilled chocolate wafers, resembling Nabisco model, although the crust might be barely much less wealthy and candy.

A Brownie Layer With a Wealthy Taste however Gentle Texture

We needed a brownie layer that was wealthy and fudgy, however that was additionally mild sufficient in texture that it was simple to interrupt off bite-size items with a fork as soon as baked—in any case, you do not need to need to slice every particular person chew of pie with a knife. The trick to getting this lighter texture with our brownies is whipping the eggs till they’ve tripled in quantity and have the feel of runny marshmallows earlier than folding them into the batter. This whipped egg combination leavens the brownie layer and offers it an ethereal texture that pairs properly with the opposite layers within the pie.

Whereas we needed our brownie batter to bake up mild and fluffy, we nonetheless needed it to have that signature brownie chew. Our assessments revealed that the key to the proper chewy texture boils down to 1 factor: fats—particularly the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fats. By utilizing each butter (a predominantly saturated fats) and vegetable oil (an unsaturated fats) in an roughly one–to-one ratio, we’re capable of produce a brownie layer with a satisfying chew that’s nonetheless comfortable sufficient to run a fork by.

To accentuate the brownie’s chocolaty punch, along with utilizing melted bittersweet chocolate within the brownie layer, we added cocoa powder to the combo: Ounce for ounce, cocoa powder has extra cocoa solids—and thus extra chocolate taste—than some other kind of chocolate, so a mere three tablespoons vastly enhances the brownie layer’s taste with out creating the denser texture that utilizing further melted chocolate would end in.

The Creamiest Chocolate Pudding

On high of the fudgy brownie is a light-weight, creamy chocolate pudding. As an alternative of whisking the pudding combination collectively on the stovetop, as most conventional pudding recipes do, right here the pudding is pulsed and mixed till clean in a meals processor. As the new cream combination is slowly poured into the chopped chocolate combination in processor, the sharp blade ensures each little bit of chocolate blends into the combination for the smoothest pudding potential. 

The pie filling will get its wealthy taste from—you guessed it—much more chocolate, within the type of bittersweet chocolate. We suggest skipping the chips and as a substitute use a top quality bar chocolate with about 64 to 70% cacao. Chocolate chips typically comprise stabilizers like soy lecithin  that stop them from melting totally—that is nice in chocolate chip cookies, however not a lot in a pudding. So for a creamy, clean chocolate pudding, you’re higher off beginning with a bar and chopping it your self. And eventually, to safeguard your pudding’s creamy texture and to ensure you do not find yourself with scrambled eggs, keep in mind to mood the egg yolks so that they don’t curdle by slowly pouring the new cream combination into the meals processor whereas working.

Whipped Cream Makes Virtually Every little thing Higher

We love the juxtaposition of the dense chocolate pie with fluffy whipped cream topping. And for an ornamental and appropriately Southern end, we suggest sprinkling the pie with crunchy pecans. Should you’re not a fan of nuts, high the pie with easy chocolate shavings, crushed chocolate cookies, or completely nothing in any respect.