Happy Pi Day!

 

According to piecouncil.org pies have been around since the ancient Egyptians.

Pies (pyes) were predominately meat pies, they eventually found their way to England in the twelfth century, then were brought over to the Americas with the first English settlers.

Over the years, pie has evolved to become today’s “most traditional dessert in America.”

I actually am not very fond of pies, in the least. At least fruit pies. Honestly, I’m not too fond of desserts unless it has to do with cookies, cake, or ice cream.

However, I had a ton of candy bars left over from Halloween (we are not big candy eaters here) and figured this would be a great time to use them.

I made a Brownie & Milky Way pie for my family for Pi Day. I originally found the recipe on Pinterest, but didn’t follow it exact – as usual.

This is a great recipe if you enjoy rich, fudgy brownies, as well as cheese cake. It’s like the best of each dessert world.

Ingredients:

Brownie Layer

  • Nonstick cooking spray
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling/Cheesecake Layer

  • 12 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (about 10 Fun Size) chopped Milky Way bars

Toppings

  • 1 container frozen whipped topping, thawed
  • Chopped Milky Way bars
  • Caramel topping (optional -in my opinion, this makes it extra sweet)

Directions:

Brownie Layer

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease an 8-inch high-sided cake pan with nonstick cooking spray
  2. Stir the melted butter, sugar, cocoa powder and salt together in a large bowl
  3. Stir in the eggs and vanilla until blended
  4. Sprinkle the flour over the batter and gently stir, just until incorporated, with no white specks of flour visible
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack

Filling/Cheesecake Layer

  1. With a stand mixer or electric hand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the softened cream cheese on medium speed until fluffy with no lumps remaining, about 1 minute.
  2. Slowly add the powdered sugar in spoonful’s until fully incorporated. Slowly drizzle in the cream and vanilla extract, then increase the mixer speed to high. Beat for 1 minute more to whip the cream until stiff. With a spatula, gently fold in the chopped Milky Way bars.
  3. Spread the cheesecake mixture in the pan on top of the brownie layer. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours
  4. Spread a thick layer of whipped topping over the cheesecake layer.
  5. Top generously with chopped Milky Way bars and drizzle with caramel sauce. Slice and serve.

 

 

 

In the original, there is a recipe for homemade caramel sauce.. unfortunately I let someone *cough*Brian*cough* take over for me for a minute and somehow.. it just wasn’t caramel anymore. Luckily, I had Hershey’s Caramel sauce in the fridge from Sundae night.

I would have loved to use more candy bars! This would work just as well with Snickers (much like the Caramel Apple & Snicker “Salad”) or just about any other candy bar you can think of. =]

 

-C

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