Club Baked: Mississippi Mud Pie (A)

aka Coffee Ice Cream Tart

When asked what I would like to host for Club: Baked, I sat down with the hubs and the Baked Explorations cookbook and discussed the possibilities. I was asked to pick something from the pies and tarts section, which for me was just perfect. I prefer pies, with their ease of preparation, their forgiving nature, and of course, the lack of scientific, precise measuring that make so many cake recipes downright frustrating for me. And this recipe had no flour which, for someone who has a flour bomb go off regularly while baking, also includes less clean up. Right around my hosting time, we were having a pretty over the top dinner, so I wanted something just a little special. With some hemming and hawing (debating between this and the Whiskey Pear Tart, apparently we like booze in our desserts), we finally settled on the Mississippi Mud Pie (A).

Of course, after just discussing the ease of preparation of most pies, I landed with the one that has so many steps. Luckily, each step is fairly easy, a simple stirring of ingredients and a pour into the pie shell, so what looked initially like a daunting recipe turned out to be pretty easy and straight forward. Although, all the stopping and starting in between steps dragged it into a two day process for me.

I started with the making of the ice cream. The Baked guys have a recipe for Coffee Ice Cream in the cookbook, but since I didn't have any instant espresso powder, or Kahlua, I ended up adapting my almond milk ice cream recipe. I simply added just a pinch over 1 1/2 cups of whole coffee beans to the milk base after the first simmer, and continued to heat on low for about an hour, maybe two. Until it tasted like a strong latte. After scooping out the beans and discarding, I added another 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup cream to compensate for the of the liquid that evaporate or got tossed with the beans, stirred and voila! Coffee Ice Cream. 

After making the ice cream, I set about making the crust. After scooping mounds of icing from the center of each sandwich cookie, I was able to use the wafers to make the crust. (Was anyone able to find just the wafer part? Please tell me where you get such a thing!)\

The bourbon fudge...let me pause a moment here.  Bourbon AND Fudge. These are pretty much two of my favorite things and together and, well, let's just say that I had no dirty dishes.

Cookie Crust, check.

Bourbon Fudge, check.

Toasted Pecans and Coffee Ice Cream, check and check.

More bourbon fudge, check, check, and check.

A little freezer action and some sparkly candles, and this thing was ready for it's debut.

This pie was incredibly rich. One of those desserts where just a little sliver will fulfill your sugar/chocolate/ice cream craving. For someone who eats a Dove dark chocolate to satisfy a sugar craving, this was super sweet.  I loved the coffee ice cream. For me, that was the best part. Next time, I would add more pecans maybe even mixing them into the ice cream. They offered a texture change with their crunch and cut down on the crazy sweetness of the rest of the ingredients. I would also skip the chocolate drizzle on top simply because it was such a rich pie, I didn't feel it really needed it. Okay, probably a light chocolate drizzle for, as my husband says, "flair." (Love that guy!)

Also, grease the pan! I guess I missed this step. But I had a h*ll of a time getting out the first slice. The second was a little better, but I think a light greasing would have solved the whole mess.

I think the best thing about learning to make this pie is the sheer volume of possibilities it opened up, and to me, that's the mark of a good recipe. One that introduces you to something that you can build on. Tweaking the ice cream and fudge flavors and even the toppings and you have an almost limitless amount of ice cream pie possibilities. Graham cracker crust, caramel in place of the fudge with a vanilla ice cream topped with pecans would be a nice fall treat. Maybe served with some warmed spiced apples. Kind of a Kriss Krossed apple pie a la mode. For Christmas, peppermint chocolate fudge with candy cane ice cream. Plain fudge and caramel ice cream topped with nuts for a toffee flavored ice cream pie...

Thanks everyone for baking along! Next up: Speculaas by Fiona: Ms Fifikins

Mississippi Mud Pie (A)
Yield: One 9" Pie

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Cookie Crust
30 chocolate wafer cookies, about 6 oz
1 tbsp granulated sugar
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted


For the Filling
4 oz good quality dark chocolate (60-72%)
1/4 c plus 1 tbsp heavy cream
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 c confections' sugar, sifted
1 tbsp Kentucky bourbon
1 pint good quality coffee ice cream
1/2 c toasted pecans, coarsely chopped


For the Bourbon Fudge Topping
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp light corn syrup
3 oz good quality chocolate (60-72%)
1 tsp Kentucky bourbon


Make the Chocolate Cookie Crust
In a food processor, pulverize the wafer cookies into a very fine crumb. You should have about 1 1/2 cups. Place the crumbs into a bowl, add the sugar and stir until combined. 


Pour the melted butter over the crumbs and mix well. Transfer the crumb mixture to a 9-inch pie plate and press it into the bottom and up the sides. Use the back of a large spoon to get an even crust. Set the crust aside in the refrigerator. 


Make the Filling
Place the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. In a medium saucepan, bring the cream, butter and corn syrup to a simmer. Remove the mixture from the heat, pour it over the chocolate, and let sit for 1 minute. Then whisk the chocolate mixture until it is completely smooth. Whisk in the confectioners' sugar and bourbon.


Spread the fudge evenly over the bottom of the pie crust, cover it and refrigerate for 2 hours.


Soften the coffee ice cream by placing the container in the microwave for 10 seconds on high. Put it into a large bowl and use a rubber spatula to beat it until it is slightly malleable. Spread the ice cream over the chilled fudge filling, sprinkle it with pecans, gently pressing them into the ice cream, and freeze the pie for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the ice cream is firm.


Make the Bourbon Fudge Topping
In a small saucepan over low heat, heat the cream, butter and corn syrup together until the mixture beings to simmer. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate. Whisk until the fudge is smooth - if you still have a few stray chocolate chunks, reheat the mixture over very low heat until they are completely melted. Stir in the bourbon. 


Beat the fudge topping until it reaches room temperature, and pour it over the ice cream and pecan layer in a zigzag pattern. Freeze the Mississippi Mud Pie until it is set, about 20 minutes. To serve the pie, cut it with a warmed sharp knife. 


The pie will keep in the freezer, tightly covered, for up to 4 days.

Heavenly Strawberry Ice Cream

This past weekend we stopped to do some shopping at the local farmer's market and guess what they had?!

Strawberries!!!!

Yep, here in Florida it's Strawberry Season! Sorry, Northerners, but early crops one of the few luxury's we have here before it gets sooo hot. Don't worry, when all you guys are going on and on about your fab gardens, I'm reminded that things don't grow so well in sand and that even palm trees look dead in 95F, full sun with 1000% humidity. Which of course, meant that I had to get a half flat while they lasted.

Because, of course, there are so many things you can do with strawberries - like Strawberry Ice Cream!

I never actually was that fond of this flavor as a kid. God forbid someone got Neapolitan - I would have to meticulously scrape the sides so I could get all the chocolate, or eat the vanilla with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. But that pink stuff in the middle. No way.

As luck would have it, my taste buds did a turn around and gosh darn it, strawberry is a pretty good flavor. Probably one of my favorites now, so I was very excited to give this a shot.

I used the basic Ice Cream recipe that I used back when I made the vanilla ice cream, but with a few tweaks.

Strawberry Ice Cream (with Almond Milk)

Ingredients
2 1/2 c almond milk (I prefer the Original to the Vanilla for this recipe since it has less sugar)
1 1/2 c heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
9 ounces sugar 
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise 
1 recipe strawberry puree*

Freeze the ice cream mixing bowl (at least 24 hours prior).

Bring the almond milk, cream and vanilla bean to just a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat as soon as it begins to simmer.
In a mixing bowl (or mixer), whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and continue to whisk until it is combined. The consistency should be thick enough so that the mixture forms a ribbon when you lift the whisk out of the bowl.

Once the eggs and sugar are combined, add in the cream/milk mixture slowly, tempering the eggs so as not to cook them. Continue to add the milk mixture to the eggs, stirring to combine as you go. Once all the milk has been added return the entire mixture to the saucepan and reheat over medium low heat until 170-175 F. This is a necessary step to ensure that the eggs are cooked (and salmonella is killed) before being made into ice cream. Continue to cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. 

Cool the mixture until it is room temperature and then let cool overnight, covered, in the refrigerator.

Remove the vanilla bean from the custard mixture. 
Pour the mixture into the the ice cream mixing bowl and turn on the mixer (or ice cream machine). Churn for 15 to 20 minutes.

At the 15 to 20 minute mark, when the ice cream has frozen and begins to look like, well, ice cream (soft serve, really), add in the strawberry puree. This should mix throughout and continue to churn, allowing the strawberry mix to be incorporated and the ice cream to become about double it's original size.

*Strawberry Puree

Ingredients:
2 pints strawberries
6 tbsp sugar
juice of 1 lemon.

Place the ingredients in a food processor and pulse. I left some chunks in mine so that I would have some in the ice cream. For a smoother ice cream, puree completely. Adjust the sugar and acid to taste, keeping in mind that the ice cream base is rather sweet.

For how-to photos and more instructions, go to my original Almond Milk Ice Cream post.

**Stay tuned next week - I have a treat in store for you!**

Candy Cane Almond Milk Ice Cream

The last ice cream we made (vanilla) was great. So, to get into the holiday season I figured I would tackle one of my old favorites - Candy Cane Ice Cream.

It's based on the same recipe as the original vanilla ice cream, but with a (red and white!) twist.

Ingredients:
18 red and white candy canes
3 c. almond milk
1 c. heavy cream
8 egg yolks
9 oz. sugar*
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract

Start with a box of candy canes - mine held 18. I crushed them all up in a zip top bag. To prevent an explosion, I left a small corner unzipped so air could get out and GENTLY banged the whole thing with a meat mallet to get tiny crumbles of cany cane.

I heated the liquids over medium-low heat in a saucepan and added 1/3 c. candy cane crumbles. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Once it has come to a simmer, remove from the heat and set aside.

In a seperate mixing bowl (or bowl for your mixer), whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color and then slowly add the sugar, still whisking. Once the mixture forms a ribbon, stir in a tablespoon or two of the warm cream/milk mixture. Continue to add small amounts of cream/milk to the eggs to temper them. Once the eggs have come up to temperature, add the rest of the cream/milk mix.

Return this mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat until it reaches 170 F and coats the back of a spoon. Let it cool in another container on the counter for a half hour.

Stir in the vanilla and peppermint extracts after the 30 minutes and place in the refrigerator until the temperature of the mixture reaches 40 F.

Once chilled to 40 F, you can make the ice cream according to your particular ice cream maker's directions.

Once at the soft serve stage, add in the remaining candy cane crumbles and continue to process until they are well incorporated.

Transfer this mixture to storage containers and place in the freezer to harden. Once frozen, scoop and eat, preferably with hot cocoa. :)

*Note: Use white sugar! I used sugar in the raw, which changed the lovely pink color to something like orange sherbert. No negative effect on flavor, just a bit odd looking.

Almond Milk Ice Cream

When we had been gifted our Kitchen Aid mixer, I was thrilled to pieces. Since then, I've discovered the fabulous world of Kitchen Aid mixer attachments. My favorite so far is the ice cream mixer. I would have never spent the money or allotted the cabinet space required of a separate ice cream machine, but I had always wanted to try and make my own ice cream. The soy and coconut milk versions at the grocery store are sub par at best. Icy, watered down versions of a creamy dessert that I wished to enjoy.

I don't blame the ice cream manufacturers. They are creating "ice cream" for not only those of us who can't have milk, but they are also attempting to grab the markets of egg-free/ nut-free/ gluten-free/ vegans/ vegetarians. It does limit the ingredients they are able to use - and with milk and eggs being key ingredients to ice cream, eliminating both is sure to be tricky.

But I can have eggs. And nuts. So, why not make an ice cream suited to my specific dietary restrictions? Surely it would taste better than the store bought versions (what doesn't?). So, after a couple variations on the specific ratios, here's a recipe that I found to be light* and creamy (no icy, watered down flavor here!). I used Alton Brown's recipe as my benchmark and worked out the specific ratios for the substitutions from there. 

Ingredients

2 1/2 c almond milk (I prefer the Original to the Vanilla for this recipe since it has less sugar)
1 1/2 c heavy cream**
8 large egg yolks
9 ounces sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (I used Penzey's Double Strength Pure Vanilla Extract).


Freeze the ice cream mixing bowl (at least 24 hours prior to the ice cream making fun I'm about to tell you about).

Bring the almond milk and cream into a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to just a simmer and remove from the heat. 

In a mixing bowl (or mixer), whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and continue to whisk until it is combined. The consistency should be thick enough so that the mixture forms a ribbon when you lift the whisk out of the bowl (as shown in photo above).

Once the eggs and sugar are combined, add in the cream/milk mixture slowly, tempering the eggs so as not to cook them. Continue to add the milk mixture to the eggs, stirring to combine as you go. Once all the milk has been added return the entire mixture to the saucepan and reheat over medium low heat until 170-175 F. This is a necessary step to ensure that the eggs are cooked (and salmonella is killed) before being made into ice cream. Continue to cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. 

To cool down the mixture quickly, we readied a "ice box" aka cooler (filled with ice) prior to starting the ice cream making process. After the mixture was cooked, we simply placed the entire saucepan filled with the cream/egg mixture into the cooler. This cooled the mix more quickly than in the refrigerator, and there was no need for a cool down period prior (never place hot items in your refrigerator - it will cause the entire fridge to warm slightly, causing the temperature to rise above what is deemed safe). 

Stir in the vanilla extract (or peppermint, banana, etc.) and continue to cool until the temperature reaches about 40 F or below. Once it has cooled to this temperature, it's now time for the fun part! 

Pour the mixture into the the ice cream mixing bowl and turn on the mixer (or ice cream machine). Churn for 25 to 30 minutes until the ice cream mixture approximately doubles in size. 

If you want to add candies or cookies and what not, add about with about 5 to 10 minutes left to ensure that it mixes uniformly throughout. Some recipes suggest adding earlier, and I find that it works well for solid add-ins like candies, but soft add-ins like cookies tend to get soft and absorb moisture if added too early. To ensure they stay crunchy, add at the 20-25 minute mark and continue to churn until just mixed through. Freeze into portions and allow to harden before serving. 

* To make a more dense ice cream, increase the ratio of the cream to the almond milk. I prefer this version since it limits the amount of dairy, but it is lighter and more airy than a premium ice cream (aka Ben & Jerry's).

** I'm going to give this a try next time using only Almond Milk. I think adding a couple more egg yolks will increase the density enough to offset the absence of the cream. I'll update when I get the results.