Birthdays – T.W.O.

Mud Pie has been a traditional birthday cake in T.W.O.’s family since we were babies. These past couple of years, we decided to step up our game and make the motherload of all mud pies. If this doesn’t get your taste buds excited, I don’t know what will. Peanut butter, chocolate, ganache, ice cream, oreo cookie crust and candy….we cover all the necessary ingredients.

Mud Pie Motherload

Ingredients:

Crust:
– 7 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
– 1 package oreo cookie box
Ganache:
– 16 ounces bittersweet chocolate
– 2 cup heavy cream
– 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Filling:
– 1.5 quartz chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream, softened*
– 1.5 quartz coffee ice cream, softened*
– ½ cup crunchy peanut butter
– 1 ounce dark chocolate, finely chopped, for garnish
– 4 peanut butter cups, finely chopped for garnish
– 1 heath bar, finely chopped for garnish

Directions:

For the crust:

Coat the inside of a 9-inch springform pan with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter.
Place cookies in food processor and pulse until ground. Add melted butter to the crumbs and mix. Press mixture evenly and firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan and freeze until it’s good and set, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, take the ice cream out of the freezer to soften and make the ganache.

For the ganache:

Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl; set aside.
Place cream in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Pour cream over chocolate and let stand until chocolate has melted, about 5 minutes.
Stir gently until smooth then stir in butter, one piece at a time. let cool slightly before using.

For the assembly:

When ice cream is softened, spread one of the flavors of ice cream over the cookie crust and smooth the top.
Spread peanut butter over the ice cream.
Pour half of the ganache over the top and smooth and place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Remove pie from the freezer and top with the second ice cream flavor.
Pour the remaning ganche on top. Spread evenly.
Top with chopped chocolate candy and put in the freezer. For best results let the pie freeze for 5 hours or over night if possible.
When you are ready to serve, let the pie stand for 5 minutes prior to cutting. Plate and serve!

Happy Baking!

Flower bouquets make great gifts for any occasion- birthdays, hostess gifts, “Get Wells,” “Thinking of You’s”, or just to show appreciation for someone else. But let’s face it, most of the time these fabulous gifts are all wrapped the same way- in plastic. Boring. To add a little more spark and personal touch to each boutique gift, T.W.O. decided to wrap the flowers themselves. Now let’s get crafty!

Supplies

-Large, brown paper grocery bag
–Tissue paper, colored
-Raffia or Ribbon
-Bouquet of flowers

First, cut the bottom of the paper bag so that it becomes a long rectangle. Flip the paper bag with the blank side face down if one side has writing on it.

Next, take 2 sheets of tissue paper and place on top of paper bag, with one side situated higher than the paper bag.

Then, place your bouquet of flowers at an angle on the tissue paper. Start wrapping the bouquet. You might need to fold or cut the paper bag if it is too long. Secure the paper bag with raffia or a ribbon.

Now you have yourself a marvelous gift!