Mocha Cream Pie

Now I know that technically this isn’t a “pie” because it doesn’t exactly have a crust. Instead it has a bed of chocolate cookie crumbs. And that, is heaven.

In preparing to make this, set your mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for an hour or so. You want them VERY COLD because you will be whipping cream and lots more.

To begin, line a spring form cake pan with parchment or waxed paper. I think the easiest way to do this, is take off the rim, lay on the paper, and press the side back down onto it and close it. Then trim off the excess paper.

Now, you want some crunchy chocolate cookies. You can really use any kind, store bought or home-made, as long as they are crunchy and not soft cookies. You could even use “oreos” if that’s your thing. You are going to pulverize these in a food processor. How many you need, will be up to your cookies. You will want around 1 1/4 cups of cookie crumbs. If there are some chunks left, that is okay.

***Note: If you don’t have a food processor, stick the cookies in a heavy/freezer zip lock bag, and beat them with a rolling pin.

It’s therapeutic.

Now, spread some of the crumbs into the pan. You want to evenly cover the bottom of the pan, and have about 1/3 cup of crumbs left over.

Now, in your cold mixing bowl, combine 1 pint of heavy whipping cream…

1 cup of Mascarpone cheese…

1/2 cup sugar…

2 generous tablespoons baking cocoa…

1 teaspoon vanilla…

and a generous tablespoon of instant coffee granules. (NOT coffee grinds.) Crush them with the back of a spoon, or if you have a mortar and pestle, take it to the granules. You want these to be tiny, so they will dissolve.

The last thing to go in the bowl, is 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur. This is one of the most well-known brands.

***A Note here….if you are set against using alcohol in a recipe, in particular because this is not cooked, or, if you live in a dry area where you can’t get this, don’t fret. Simply increase the coffee granule measurement to 2 or 3 tablespoons, and that should give you satisfactory results.

 

Turn your mixer on low, just to combine everything, then crank it up and whip it good! Be sure to scrape the bowl a couple times.

After a couple minutes, you will have a thick, rich filling. You want very stiff peaks here, or the consistency of a heavy shaving cream.

Gently spoon about 1/2 of the filling all over the cookie crumbs, in little piles.

Then gently spread the filling out, pressing down as you go.

Now sprinkle on about tablespoon or two of crumbs.

Repeat with the other half the filling, and sprinkle with the remaining cookie crumbs.

To finish this off, shave some dark chocolate over the top, or just leave it with cookie crumbs.

Cover the whole thing with plastic wrap or foil, and stick it in the fridge. Or if you live in Alaska, and it is Fall, Winter, or Spring, you could set it in your entry way or garage.

Just saying.

Let this chill for 8 or more hours.

After it has properly chilled, you will pull it out along with a sharp knife.

Run the knife around the sides, and then remove the side piece of the pan.

Cut yourself a wedge…this may not be perfect, because this is a soft dessert, but in about 1.3 seconds you’re not going to care what it looks like.

 

Mmmmmm!

Enjoy!