Stargazer Pie

About a week or two ago, Brad and I had the opportunity to host our beloved small group at our apartment. Well little did we know that we would also have severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings that night. Anyway, when I had gotten home from work, I had plenty of time to throw together this little diddy...'bout Jack and Di-a-nne...just kidding ;o) Anyway, I had plenty of time to bake up a couple of goodies and set up the rest of the snacks before people started to show up. And everything was going so smoothly went the Severe Weather Alert came on the radio..and the we turned on the T.V. and saw Tom Skilling and my friend Mark Suppelsa along with his co-anchor (sorry I don't remember your name!) looking somewhat concerned and serious...and then the air raid sirens went off. So we grabbed our keys, flashlights and a couple of folding chairs and headed down to the basement with our weather radio.

(this is NOT my picture, but rather Scott Strazzante, Chicago Tribune / June 23, 2010. I just wanted to include this picture to show you some of the intense clouds since U.S. Cellular is literally blocks from our apartment)

 

Well fortunately nothing ever came of the storm in our neck of the woods..er, city...besides some pretty intense lightening, high winds, and flooding...however it did eat into my prep time. So by the time everything started to calm down, we only had a few moments before people started to show. Luckily, we have some pretty awesome people in our group that totally understood (and who braved the weather to make it out to our place!) and helped me finish setting up. But I am telling you all of this not only because it ended up being a crazy night but rather that in all of the commotion, corners were cut and a slight mistake was made. Okay, enough of the weather talk.

I'm not even sure when or how I came across this but my goodness am I sure glad I did (as are the others who got to taste this treat!). Dozen Flours, in a time crunch, came up with this fairly easy recipe for a delicious and delectable dessert, Stargazer Pie. What compromises did I have to make? Well the truffle layer wasn't able to set for the given time due to the whole tornado siren episode (nor did I cream the butter and cream cheese entirely...I had some tiny lumps). Also, in my running around trying to make sure everything was get for snacks, I did the unforgivable and stepped away from the mixer..while I was making whipped cream. So yeah, the peaks came and almost went before I realized my error. Whoops. So needless to say, the rest of the items that I was supposed to mix into the whipped cream didn't get mixed in when they were supposed to but hey, it still worked. How do I know this? Because everyone said they loved it! Yes, it was rich but oh so delicious. Just next time, I'm going to need to watch that mixer a little more closely. ;o) BTW. I have removed some of the detailed instructions just to pare down the reading but you can still have success without the added details.

Stargazer Pie
created by Dozen Flours

Crust
1 16.5 oz tube of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough, softened

Brownie Layer
1 box of Brownie Mix
1/2 cup of cocoa powder, sifted
3 tablespoons of lukewarm water
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon of almond extract or vanilla

Cream Cheese Truffle Layer
1 cup of milk semisweet chips
4 oz of cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick of unsalted butter

Whipped Cream Layer
2 cups of whipping cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of powdered sugar, sifted
1/3 cup (give or take) of chocolate curls or other garnish, optional

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9 or 9 1/2 inch springform pan with butter.
• Spread the cookie dough into the bottom of the pan, making one big even cookie. It may be a little on the thin side. Stick it in the freezer.
  
  
• Mix the brownie mix and the cocoa powder together in big bowl with a whisk or large fork. Add the water, oil, eggs, and extract and mix together just until the dry ingredients are absorbed. Be careful not to over mix! The batter will be somewhat lumpy. 
• Remove the springform pan from the freezer and add the brownie batter right over the top. Bake for 34-38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownie comes out *almost* clean. You basically want it to where it's not raw in the center and doesn't jiggle when you shake the pan a bit, a tad bit less baked than you would a normal brownie.
• Remove it from the oven and promptly sprinkle about a 1/3 cup of chocolate chips (from the 1 cup of chips listed above) over the top. Let it sit for a minute or two and once the chocolate chips are soft, evenly spread them over the top of brownie's surface. Allow it to cool on the counter. 
  
  
  

forgive the bluriness of the photo..there was a lot going on that night as you can imagine and apparently I didn't take the time to pay attention as to whether or not I was actually getting "good" pictures 

• While the pie is cooling, microwave the remaining chocolate chips on low power on 30 second intervals until the chips are melted, stirring well each time. Set aside. Cream the butter, and cream cheese together for 1 minute. Add the vanilla and stir again. Add the melted chocolate, one big teaspoonful at a time until it's incorporated into the cream cheese. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the top of the pie and store it uncovered in the refrigerator for an hour.
  
  
  
• About an hour or two before you're ready to serve the pie, whisk the whipping cream on high speed until soft peaks form. Add the vanilla and the powdered sugar and mix again until combined. Spread evenly over the top of the pie. Grate chocolate directly over the top, sprinkle chocolate curls, or embellish with chocolate sprinkles. Cover and put it back in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 an hour.
• When you're ready to serve, Gently remove the ring and serve let it come to room temperature at least a half an hour before serving.