This weekend took on a whole new meaning of St. Patty’s day for me. Instead of drinking like I’m 21, I ate. And I ate and I ate. It was ridiculous the amount of food (and Kopp’s custard) I consumed in those 48 hours.
We started the weekend ritzing it up at a fancy schmancy country club for a fish fry for my in-laws birthdays on Friday night. It was delicious and wayyyy too much food. But obviously I had to save room for the the best lemon bars ever for dessert. I can always find room for dessert.
Remember that 7k run I was telling you I hoped would get snowed out? Yeah that was Saturday and there was definitely fresh snow on the ground but not enough for it to be cancelled which was lame lame lame. Standing in the mid 20 degree weather before the race was by far the worst part and I finally gained feeling in my toes again by mile two. Ahh the things we do for a free cup of green beer.
This little man kept me warm after the run (although he does look like a giant here!)
Sunday was dedicated to relaxing and making Bailey’s Pudding Pie for an Irish dinner my friend was hosting. Check out this Guinness beef stew of hers.
Seriously amazing.
I made this for dessert and even though it doesn’t make the prettiest presentation when on a plate, people did have good things to say about it. Who wouldn’t? It has Girl Scout cookies in it people!
What’s that you say? You don’t see a picture of how un-pretty it is on a plate? Well let me tell you that I had every intention of taking a picture of the leftovers when I got home from work tonight since I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of it yesterday but lo and behold Mr. C. was rinsing out the pie pan and telling me how good it was when I walked in the doorway. I almost cried. And had some not so nice words to say. But I couldn’t not share this recipe with you today. Picture the slice of the pie to look a little something like crushed Thin Mints on the bottom for crust, chocolate pudding in the middle and this whipped cream and crushed Thin Mint cookies for garnish on top. I bet your imagination is coming up with something a whole lot prettier than what I was going to present anyways!
If you’re all about the presentation for this though, you could use pint size jars for each serving. They look really pretty and are probably more practical if you are making this for an outing (like a picnic) instead of a group dinner.
Bailey’s Pudding Pie with Thin Mint Crust (found originally on Crazy for Crust)
Ingredients
For the Crust
2 sleeves (17) Thin Mint (or the Keebler equivalent), finely ground, 2 tablespoons reserved for garnish*
6 tablespoons butter, melted*
For the Pudding
1 egg
1 ½ cups milk
2/3 cups sugar
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons corn starch
1 teaspoon instant coffee (a little less than 1 Via packet)
2 tablespoons butter
4 ounces good semi-sweet chocolate
¼ cup Bailey’s Irish Cream (1 mini bottle) {Don’t drink? No problem Just leave this out!}
For the Garnish
½ cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons powdered sugar
Reserved 2 tablespoon of ground Thin Mints
Directions
1. Mix finely ground cookies with butter. Pour into pie pan, press to flatten, and chill until ready to use.
2. Whisk egg in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk milk, cocoa, sugar, coffee, and corn starch in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to thicken (about 5 minutes).
4. Remove from heat and pour one ladle of the hot chocolate mixture into the egg bowl, while whisking the egg. Then pour the egg mixture back into the pan and whisk to combine. Return to heat and cook just until it begins to boil.
5. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and butter. Once melted, stir in the Bailey’s. Pour the pudding onto the cooled crust. Cover the top with plastic (press the plastic so that it is touching the top of the pudding) and chill until cooled.
6. Add cold heavy cream to a chilled bowl (I like to chill my bowl and whisk in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes prior to making whipped cream). Add powdered sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
7. Portion whipped cream over cooled pudding and top with reserved crushed Thin Mints.
