I Should Be Fired

Has it really been one month and seven days? Seriously, it's a good thing blogging isn't my profession or I would definitely be fired. But I have excuses, Boss: finals. Isn't that reason enough to abandon my duties? No? No, not really. But still, finals are time consuming little buggers and even though I could still find the time to bake, taking pictures and blogging are another thing. So for this post, I'm pulling from my reserves but I promise to be back in action, especially considering that I have some serious baking coming up in the next week.

This recipe comes from the same bakeress as the stoner cookies, with some of my own alterations.



Chocolate Overload Mud Pie*

Chocolate Cookie Crust:
16 ounces Oreo Cookies (about 40 cookies or one package)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Flourless Chocolate Cake
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon espresso powder
1/4 cup strong coffee, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Chocolate Pudding
2 slighly heaping tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons whiskey (optional but recommended!)

crushed toffee pieces and chocolate whipped cream for topping (optional)

To make the crust:
Preheat oven to 300F.
Lightly spray a 9-inch springform pan with baking spray. Line with parchment, spray that and the sides of the pan. In a food processor, grind the cookies into a fine crumb. Add the butter and pulse until well combined.
Place all of the crumb mixture into the springform pan and press along the bottom and up the sides.
Place in freezer for 10 minutes, then remove and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

To make the flourless cake:
Increase oven temperature to 350F
Using a double boiler, melt the butter and chocolate together. Set aside to cool.
In a small bowl, whisk together the espresso powder, coffee, salt and vanilla. Set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl with beaters), beat the egg yolks with 1/2 cup of the sugar until the mixture is light and has almost doubled in volume, about 5 minutes. Add the chocolate mixture and beat until just combined, scraping down the sides once. Add the coffee mixture and beat until just combined, scraping the sides again.
In a clean bowl fitted with the whisk attachment (or with beaters), beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually increase the speed to high and add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, beating until soft peaks form.
Scoop 1 cup of egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten the batter. Using a rubber spatula mix the egg whites into the chocolate batter. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.
Pour the batter onto the cooled cookie crust and bake for about 40 minutes, so the cake is set but still slightly jiggly. Transfer it to a wire rack and cool completely. The cake will sink in the middle; don't worry, you will fill it with pudding. Once cool, cover in plastic wrap and chill for 3 hours while you make the pudding.

For the pudding:
Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, then gradually whisk in the milk and cream. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, then boil for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove from heat. Whisk in the chocolate, vanilla and whiskey until smooth.
Cover the pudding with wax paper to prevent a skin from forming and chill until cold, at least 2 hours.

To assemble:
Stir the pudding to loosen it, then pour it on top of the cake, making sure to stay inside the cookie crust boarder.
Return cake to refrigerator until ready to serve.
When ready to serve, top with chocolate whipped cream (whip cream with sugar to taste and 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder) and crushed toffee pieces.


The pudding in the original recipe is milk chocolate, but I thought that would be too sweet so I used semisweet chocolate instead. The whiskey isn't in the original recipe, either, but my brother (Beau) and I went through a let's-add-whiskey-to-everything phase and decided last minute that chocolate whiskey pudding would probably be pretty good. And it was. So that about wraps things up, sorry for the (third in my blogging career) hiatus, I'll try to keep those to a minimum. Look forward to tasty things in the future like hot chocolate and pecan tassies!


*These pictures aren't actually of Overload Mud Pie, but they're the same cookie crust and pudding recipes so they're pretty close. The actual pictures are from my phone and they are crappy.