My Remorseful Tribute to National Pie Day

The American Pie Council, standing up for your pie rights.

Good evening fellow bakers.  Once again I find myself short on sleep because I am not a student of the organizational school of time management.  On the other hand, to not be baking two pies at midnight would mean skipping out on singing “Happy Birthday” to my 92-year-old grandmother Jane and that wasn’t going to happen.  As per usual, I digress.

Tomorrow (okay at this point today would be more appropriate) is National Pie Day.   I tried to fact check this, and I have to say that while the internet does seem to recognize National Pie Day, even Wiki is a little scant on how long this tradition has been going on.  If you want more information about pies, I would suggest following this link to the American Pie Council.  There you can join the American Pie Council, an organization that lists raising pie awareness as one of its goals.  To this I say “ummmm what?” is there an American citizen out there that has never heard of pies?  Are pies in danger of falling into disuse?  Have we as Americans forgotten that the apple pie is the baked item that we are all weighed against to prove how American we are?  Somehow I doubt this is going to show up as a march on Washington anytime soon, but who knows.  After all, the pie is represented at most major holidays and yet still stands for pratfalls everywhere…pie in the face anyone?  That is one versatile dessert, maybe the APC has it right.

To honor or dishonor this important day, I am baking my first pie.  Yes, I know how weird that is, but while I have made mini apple pies with leftover bits, this will be my first full-sized pie.  What kind of pie would you bake to pay homage to this delightful dessert?  For me, chocolate is a default, so I decided Mississippi Mud would be the way to go.  As a side note, does anyone besides me have a hard time figuring out  when to stop spelling Missississippissippi?  The filling on this recipe ended up being enough for two pies, so I will either have a double success or a double waste of time on my hands.  If these fail, there may be a bit of weeping, but that will only be a demonstration of how god-awful tired I am.  Keep your fingers crossed for me, I will have a picture at the end.

Mississippi Mud Pie

Ingredients (for one crust):

• 1 package graham crackers (about 9 crackers), crushed fine
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted, divided
• 3/4 cup butter, divided
• 1 cup, plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 4 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Melt 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter and mix with graham crackers, 1/2 cup pecans, 3 tablespoons of sugar.  Press mixture into 9″ pie plate.
3. Melt chocolate with 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, stirring often
4. Beat eggs, corn syrup, sugar, and salt on high until thick, approximately 3 minutes.  The batter will lighten in color and the batter will fall back as a ribbon when the beater is lifted out.
5. Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.  Then gently fold in the remaining pecans.
6. Pour into crust and bake for 35-40 minutes, or top forms a crust and the rest is just set.
7. Cool completely and refrigerate.  Tastes amazing with whipped cream on top.

That doesn’t seem awful…right?