Sweet Tooth Sunday

This recipe is brought to you by the need for chocolate.

Thank you chocolate.

Let's celebrate a summertime favorite of the kiddies and make....Mud Pie!

Not this kind:

THIS kind:

Though that first variety is fun, it leaves a gritty aftertaste.

So I find myself tweaking things again. LL did a cookbook cleanout recently and sent me a book called "Everyday Chocolate". I haven't had nearly as much opportunity to dive into it as I'd like, but I have been flipping through and looking at pictures. It inspired me to make up some kind of mud pie, but since I'm not a huge coffee flavor fan, I needed to go all chocolate.

To make the crust, sift the flour and cocoa together.

No sifter? Use a pour them in and use a whisk-as long as you're not super picky about how fine it is, it works surprisingly well!

Rub the butter in, either with fingertips, a pastry cutter or cut it in with a couple of knives until everything is an even consistency.

Stir in the sugar and enough water until a soft dough forms.

Wrap and let chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Roll out the dough and fit it into a tart pan or pie plate.

Poke it with a fork to prevent bubbling of the crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 15min.

To make the filling, beat butter and sugar together, then gradually add the eggs and cocoa.

Stir in the vanilla too.

Get yourself some good chocolate. I'm a big Ghiradelli fan, but Bakers is my next choice.

Today: Bakers.

Melt that until it's nice and smooth, then pour the cream and melted chocolate into the mixture you've already got going.

Beat it in there until it's a nice even, smooth consistency.

Pour that into the prebaked crust.

Bake at 325 degrees (yes, you turned the oven down, that's not a typo!) for 30-35min, until set gently. If you prefer a creamier less baked filling, go on the short side for time, or you could even reduce it a bit more. If you prefer it to be more baked and dense, you can go 35-40 minutes.

Let chill completely, then have some fun with whipping cream and chocolate shavings.

This one ended up even better then next day after sitting in the fridge overnight-it was more moist and rich and dense.....and now my mouth is watering all over again.

Mud Pie

Crust

1 1/4 c Flour

2 Tbsp Cocoa

1/2 c Butter

2 Tbsp Sugar

1-2 Tbsp cold water

Filling

3/4 c Butter

1 3/4 c Brown Sugar

4 Eggs, lightly beaten

6 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate

4 Tbsp Cocoa

1 1/4 c Cream

1 tsp vanilla

To make crust, sift flour and cocoa together, cut in butter until mixture is even. Stir in sugar and enough cold water to form soft dough. Wrap and chill for 15 minutes. Roll the dough out and place in tart pan or on pie plate. Poke with tines of fork to prevent bubbling. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 min.

Reduce oven to 325 degrees.

To make filling, beat butter and sugar together in bowl and gradually beat in eggs and cocoa. Stir in vanilla. Melt chocolate and beat into mixture along with cream. Mix until smooth. Pour into prebaked shell and bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 min or until filling is gently set.

Allow to cool, garnish with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Keep in refrigerator.