Cafe Au Mint Chocolate Pie

This frozen pie is pure genius in its simplicity. Crushed Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies pressed into a baked crust, filled with softened coffee ice cream, and topped with a quick chocolate ganache. Four ingredients, minimal effort, maximum impact at a dinner party.

The Thin Mint crust is what sets this apart from every other ice cream pie out there. Those cookies bring chocolate and mint flavor to the base, so when paired with coffee ice cream, you get a layered mint-coffee-chocolate experience in every slice. The baked crust firms up and holds its shape even after freezing, giving you a crisp shell against the creamy filling.

Softening the ice cream in the fridge for four hours (not the counter) is the patient approach that pays off. Fridge-softened ice cream stays dense and scoopable. Counter-softened ice cream can partially melt and refreeze with ice crystals.

The ganache topping is just chocolate chips melted with cream over the lowest heat. It pours over the frozen ice cream layer and sets into a firm chocolate shell that cracks when you press your fork through it.

Kitchen Tips

• Grease the pie pan generously with stick margarine. Frozen pies stick aggressively, and this makes removal and slicing much easier.
• Press the cookie crumbs firmly into the pan. Loose crumbs crumble when you try to slice the frozen pie.
• Let the ganache cool slightly before pouring over the ice cream. Too hot and it melts a channel into the filling.
• Pull the pie from the freezer 5 minutes before slicing. A brief rest makes cutting cleaner.

Variations

• Mint chip: Use mint chocolate chip ice cream instead of coffee for a full mint-on-mint pie.
• Oreo crust: Swap Thin Mints for crushed Oreos if Girl Scout cookies aren’t in season.