Pi Day Special: Mississppi Mud Pie (Wheat- and Egg Free)

Happy Pi Day! It is finally March the 14th, and the day to eat pie! And to commemorate this occasion, I'll share with you how I made today's offering: Mississippi Mud Pie!

The only thing I new about Mississippi Mud pie for many years is that my Grandad loves to eat premade ones from the local supermarket (I think it's a Sainsburys), and that there's an infamous scene in the film The Help that revolves around one. But until I researched what maketh a mud pie, for the purposes of making one for Pi Day, I never knew what it comprised of.

I had always assumed it was a cake, but it's actually a chocolate biscuit base filled with some chocolate pudding. Sort of like a South African melktert, but chocolate version. Knowing how much I like melktert, and how much I like chocolate, I thought this would be a winner!

(Insidentally, I've never actually made a traditional vanilla melktert for this blog, only a chocolate one. Maybe that's one to do in future...)

So, without further ado, this is how I made it.

INGREDIMENTS


For one 9 inch (22 centimetre) pie

For the crust,

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) chocolate sandwich biscuits, regular or gluten free
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) butter, at room temperature
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) brown sugar

For the filling,

• 16 fluid ounces (2 cups, 455 millilitres) whole milk
• 4 fluid ounces (180 millilitres) whipping cream (about 30% fat)
• 2½ to 3 tablespoons (37 to 45 millilitres) cornflour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) cocoa powder
• Good pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) instant coffee
• 1 tablespoon (15 grammes) butter

To decorate,

• Whipped cream
• White chocolate
• Cocoa powder

HOW-TO

• Prepare the biscuit crust in the same way as the key lime pie recipe.
• In a saucepan off the heat, mix together the sugar, cornflour, cocoa powder, and salt until completely combined and all the lumps are gone.
• Gradually add the milk, mixing all the time, slowly but surely to avoid lumps. Add in the cream and coffee and mix well.
• Cook the custard over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Cook at a boil for about 3 or 4 minutes until it has thickened.
• Take off the heat and add in the vanilla and butter, stirring until the butter has melted into the custard completely.
• Pour the custard into the crust and smooth out, shaking the tin a little to settle the top. If you don't want a skin on the surface, cover the top directly with clingfilm.
• Allow to cool to room temperature before putting in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
• The next day, make a Pi symbol as in the key lime pie recipe, using cocoa powder to coat instead of sprinkles. Allow to set completely in the fridge, about half an hour.
• Remove the clingfilm and cover the surface of the pie with lightly whipped cream. Set the Pi symbol on top.

No blogs on this day in previous years.