Mama's Mud Pie

Ingredients:

• Crust: 25-30 oreos and 3 Tablespoons butter

• Ice Cream Base: 4 egg yolks, 16oz heavy cream, 16oz whole milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ¾ cup white sugar, 2 Tablespoons espresso powder, and 3-4oz semi-sweet chocolate

• Espresso Fudge: 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 6oz semisweet chocolate chips, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 tablespoon of espresso powder

• Toppings: oreo crumbs, slivered almonds, shredded coconut *optional*

Notes: Make sure you freeze your ice cream churner base for at least 24 hours prior to making the ice cream. I also recommend that you make the crust the night before so it can freeze as well. If you omit the espresso powder, this is a great ice cream base for all flavors.

Directions (crust):

1. Crush about 25-30 oreos either by hand or with a Cuisinart. You want the crumbs to be pretty fine so that you have a uniform crust. If you are using a smaller pan, you should use less. Optional: save some of the crumbs for the topping.

2. Melt butter and add to crumbs. Because you’re crushing the oreos with the cream, you don’t need to add as much butter. If you’re using less or more crumbs, use less or more butter.

3. Firmly press the oreo-butter mixture into a pan, making sure you have an even layer all throughout the pan. I used a springform pan but you can use a pie shell and that’ll work perfectly fine, you’ll just have to mound it in the middle.

Directions (ice cream base):

1. Scramble egg yolks in a pot.

2. Add heavy cream and whole milk. Most recipes will call for a 3:1 ratio but I like making it this way because it’s a little healthier-- and it tastes exactly the same.

3. Add vanilla and white granulated sugar.

4. Add about 2 tablespoons of instant espresso powder. You can use more or less depending on how strong you want the coffee flavor

5. Heat up the mixture on medium-low heat. WHISK CONSTANTLY so the eggs don’t scramble.

6. Stir until the custard thickens about 10 minutes. Then move the custard into a separate bowl and let it cool in the fridge for a few hours until it’s refrigerator temperature. Make fudge sauce as it’s cooling (see below)

7. Pour into your ice cream churner

8. Melt about 3-4 ounces of chocolate in the microwave. You can use whatever chocolate you want, I did a combination of semi-sweet and dark.

9. Once the ice cream looks like soft serve, drizzle in the chocolate VERY SLOWLY. You can also dip a spoon in the chocolate and then spread it around in the ice cream and repeat until you’ve used all the chocolate.

10. Once it’s done churning, it should look like the picture to the right.

11. Take out your pie shell, and fill the bottom with half of the ice cream.

12. Add a thin layer of your fudge. You can also add whatever fillings you want (crumbs, cookies, nuts, coconut, etc)

13. Scoop the rest of the ice cream on top, and flattened it out.

14. Place the pan in the freezer to harden.

15. Once it’s frozen, add the rest of the fudge on top and more toppings!

16. You can freeze it again until you’re ready to serve it, or enjoy it right away!

Directions (espresso fudge):

1. Add sweetened condensed milk, semisweet chocolate chips, vanilla and espresso powder. The espresso powder is optional. The fudge is delicious on its own. If you want a stronger coffee flavor, add more.

2. Heat on medium-low heat stirring until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.

3. Cool until room temperature.

4. Add as filling and/or topping.