Saturday 30 July 2011

Mud Pie

Recipes are a very personal thing. There are probably thousands of different recipes out there for each commonly known dish and millions more of dishes that are improvised each day. But we tend to stick to one recipe for each dish that we cook - either because it is a family recipe, because it is simple or even because it was the first recipe for it that we found and it works fine, so why change it?! I am like that with many things. There are many Greek dishes where I will only cook them the way my Nona and Mum always have - no questions asked! I love them as they are and feel that another recipe just wouldn't be good enough.

Other dishes though are great to experiment with. I find this mostly with desserts. Different scone recipes provide a variety of fluffiness, richness or flatness for example! This mud pie recipe provided something different to what I had previously cooked or eaten in terms of 'mud pies'. It's not cooked in the oven and has marshmallows instead of sugar. Mmmm... interesting.

I came across this recipe when my mum told me she had eaten it at a friends of hers in Greece. When I asked her friend, she then told me she found it in a British food magazine (Good Food Magazine). So the recipe kind of did a bit of a circle around countries, but I got it in the end. That's the funny thing with recipes: good ones find their way to a larger crowd... It is easy, quick and good. Very rich and fairly sweet, it is a general crowd-pleaser - note that there is no BLW next to the recipe header! :)



for the base
200g digestive biscuits
75g butter

for the topping
200g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
100ml strong coffee, cooled
600ml double cream
4 tbsp milk
200g marshmallows

glaze
180g milk chocolate
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup creme fraiche

Put the biscuits in a strong plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Gently melt the butter in a pan, add the crushed biscuits and mix together. Tip the mixture into a 25cm flan dish and press down well. Set aside to cool, then chill while you make the topping. Break the chocolate into chunks and place them in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Allow the chocolate to melt. Then stir in the coffee.
 
In a separate bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks, taking care not to over-whip. Put the milk in a pan and add the marshmallows. Stir continuously over a very low heat until they have melted into the milk, making a wonderful gooey mixture. Remove from the heat and stir in the melted chocolate, a tablespoon at a time, mixing well. Beat in the cream, using a balloon whisk to remove any lumps. Pour the mixture onto the biscuit base and leave for about 2 hours to set.
 
For the glaze: melt the milk chocolate and the sugar in a bain marie. When melted, add the cream and stir until smooth. Pour over the pie
Refrigerate the pie for at least 6-8 hours.
 
 

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