LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Delicious Mud Pie for Your Valentine


Traditional mud pie with a frozen yogurt twist Photo Susie Iventosch

This is one of our family's all-time favorite desserts. The recipe was handed down from my grandmother, who lived in Orinda and was quite the hostess back in her day! It is delicious in summer, winter, spring or fall, but it makes the perfect Valentine's Day dessert! Grandmom made it with coffee ice cream, but with all of the wonderful ice cream substitutes available these days you can certainly take your pick of frozen concoctions, in any flavor, to use in place of the ice cream. Strawberry, coconut, lime, dulce de leche, or chocolate ... any of these flavors would work well with the scrumptious fudge filling and Oreo cookie crust. And you can even replace the cookie crumb crust with your favorite cookies!

INGREDIENTS

Crust

30 Oreo cookies, pulverized in food processor

1/2 cup (1 stick or 1/4 pound) butter, melted

Fudge Sauce

4 ounces unsweetened or bittersweet-dark chocolate (good quality)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 six-ounce cans evaporated milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

Ice Cream

1 quart coffee-chocolate chip frozen yogurt (or yogurt or ice cream of your choice)

Whipped Cream Topping

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon Kahlua

1/2 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped (optional)

Cocoa powder for dusting on top of whipped cream

DIRECTIONS

Crust

Combine melted butter and Oreos and mix well. Pat into a very well-greased 9-inch pie dish. Freeze for about 30 minutes.

Ice Cream

Spoon 4 cups of your favorite ice cream or frozen yogurt, slightly softened, into shell. (Coffee is the traditional flavor, but any flavor will do.) Freeze until ice cream is hardened.

Fudge Filling

Place all fudge sauce ingredients into a heavy saucepan and cook until thick like fudge, stirring constantly. Remove from stove and cool to room temperature. Filling will continue to thicken as it cools. Spread cooled fudge sauce over frozen ice cream. Freeze again until hard.

Whipped Cream Topping

Whip 1 cup heavy cream until stiff. Add 1 tablespoon Kahlua. Spread over frozen fudge sauce and top with 1/2 cup finely chopped toasted pecans or walnuts (optional) and dust with cocoa powder. Freeze until time to serve. For you coconut lovers, simply replace the Oreo cookies with Mother's Coconut Macaroons and use coconut ice cream.