We had a Family Reunion at my mother's house this 4th of July. My kids suggested we make a Mississippi Mud Pie. Well you KNOW we can't just make something ordinary, so we opted for individual servings, thinking this might be easier for folks to just pick up and eat rather than wrangling a piece from a larger casserole dish, as it's usually done. My oldest child (who rarely cooks with us but almost always offers... ahem... constructive criticism, and serves as our tasing critic) argued that this wouldn't really be Mississippi Mud Pie if we offered it in individual servings. He said "those would be more like MS Mud PUDDLES in that case, Mom." So here they are!
Prepare all the components, then begin assembly.The crust:
Combine ingredients. Press in a 9"x13" pan. Bake x 15 min at 375 degrees. Then let it cool.
- 1 cup flour
- 1 stick melted butter
- 1 cup chopped pecans.
Bourbon Ganache layer:
This bourbon ganache layer goes on top of the pudding layers. The alcohol will cook out, but you can certainly leave it out if you don't want the bourbon in there. Melt chocolate and cream together over double boiler stirring until
silky. Add bourbon and cook another minute or two. Cool before adding
to layers. You can put the pot over an ice bath to cool faster.
- 1 package semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp bourbon
The second layer (seen here on the chin and the spoon):
Combine ingredients in a a stand mixer (or hand mixer) and whip until smooth and creamy.
- 1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup cool whip
For the pudding layers:
This is a little less milk than the packages call for,
but results in a little bit stiffer product which works well here.
- 1 large box instant Chocolate pudding
- 1 large box instant French Vanilla pudding
- 5 cups milk split between them
Some recipes call for mixing both puddings together, but I separated the layers because I thought it would look prettier.
If you use the "cook and serve" instead of the instant, make SURE they are cooked before layering!!!!
Create an assembly line:
1 - crust
2 - white cream cheese fluff
3 - chocolate pudding
4 - french vanilla pudding
5 - ganache
6 - cool whip
7 - optional garnishes.
Begin Assembly when all components are accounted for. To begin, you will spoon some of the "crust" into the little dessert cups. Just crumble it up. Makes a pretty, crunchy layer. We used clear plastic dessert cups, as they were appropriate for people walking around with them in/outside at the family reunion.
Garnish as desired. I added white and milk chocolate curls and toasted pecans to the top.
To make the chocolate curls. Just use a vegetable peeler along the
side of a block of chocolate and it will curl up. TaDa! It's that easy!
Note - The chocolate curls
are quite breakable, so if you need specific placement, use a toothpick
to lift them into position. We just gathered them up and tossed them
on. You can also "curl" the chocolate right over the dessert and just
let them fall.
After assembly, the mud puddles need to be refrigerated until you are ready to serve them.
* I used 9oz cups, which were pretty, but for a dessert this rich... you could probably do a smaller sized cup. We found that 9 oz of this is a LOT!
Would you like to see more recipes? Please visit my Recipe Index for tons of ideas that you can make with/for you family. Here are a few to pique your curiosity:
Made this today for our Sunday Family dinner. Huge hit!! Thanks so much for this recipe.
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