Sweet & Salty Guinness Chocolate Pie with Beer Marshmallow Meringue

We only have one day to go and it will be here! You know what I’m talking about…St. Patrick’s Day! It’s happening tomorrow ya’ll! Woohoo! I am so ready. I have all of my green clothing laid out and ready to go. Yup. I am going to do the green clothing thing. Now before all ya’ll Irish folks judge me, let me just say, if you don’t wear green over here on the day, people will pinch you! I do NOT want to be pinched and I actually like wearing green. I think it suits me, soooo….there you have it! But we’re here to talk about food right? Not rude, pinchy people, so onto the fabulous recipe. Today it is Sweet & Salty Guinness Chocolate Pie with Beer Marshmallow Meringue. How completely outstanding does that sound….sweet, salty, Guinness, Chocolate, Marshmallow. Good Lord! Bring it on!

Now this pie has a sweet and salty pretzel graham cracker crust, which is filled with a Guinness infused Chocolate pudding and topped with a toasted Guinness Marshmallow Meringue! What an embarrassment of riches!!!

And the great thing about this recipe is that it makes two, count them two, pies. This means that you get one entire pie for yourself and you can give one to a friend. (A very deserving friend, mind you. You need to be selective here, as this is not just any old pie!)

Believe it or not, when I first started talking this pie up to my friends, I did have one who said “Oh, I don’t really like meringue pies very much”. I totally get that. I’m sure it has something to do with dry meringue pies made by totally well-meaning Grandmas. However, this Beer Marshmallow Meringue is like no meringue you’ve experienced. It is more like a melted marshmallow fluff. Totally gooey and delicious! I don’t even know if I can legally call it meringue (I can only hope the “meringue police” are not monitoring me at this moment.) And we’ve only talked about that topping at this point. Let’s not forget the rich, chocolatey Guinness pudding filling or the lovely sweet yet salty pretzel crust. What an absolutely perfect St. Patrick’s Day dessert. And what are you waiting for? It is happening tomorrow! Get busy!

Sweet & Salty Guinness Chocolate Pie with Beer Marshmallow Meringue

recipe from: Sprinkle Bakes

Yield: 2 pies

Ingredients:

For the Pretzel crust:

• 2 cups crushed pretzels
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (you can substitute in digestive biscuits crumbs if grahams are unavailable)
• 10 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar (firmly packed)

For the Guinness Chocolate Filling:

• 8 large egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 14.9 oz. can Guinness Draught, divided
• 2 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 7 oz. high quality bittersweet chocolate, evenly chopped
• 1/4 cup cornstarch

For the Beer Marshmallow Meringue:

• 2 cups sugar
• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 12 jumbo marshmallows (or about 18-20 large) cut into quarters with kitchen scissors
• 3 tbsp. beer reduction ( Place remaining Guinness from chocolate filling in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until reduced to 3 tablespoons, about 15 minutes)

Directions:

For the Crust:

Reheat oven to 350° F.

In a medium bowl, mix together pretzels, graham cracker crumbs, butter and brown sugar.  Stir together with a rubber spatula until well incorporated.

Divide mixture between two 8 or 9-inch pie plates. Bake for 10 minutes.  Cool completely before filling

For the Filling:

Whisk together egg yolks and sugar in a non-reactive bowl.

Pour 1 cup of Guinness in a heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan (reserve the rest for later use – no drinky! Not yet anyway, but remember …St. Patrick’s Day is nigh. Your time will come!). Add heavy cream and whisk to combine.  Set over medium-high heat and cook until very hot but not boiling. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate.   When chocolate has melted, whisk in the egg mixture in a very thin stream as to not scramble the egg.  Whisk in cornstarch and return to heat source.  Whisk over medium heat until thickened.

Divide mixture between pie pans.  Use a rubber spatula to effectively remove all the pudding from the saucepan; quickly smooth the chocolate into the crust.  Refrigerate while making the marshmallow topping.

For the Beer Marshmallow Meringue:

Whisk sugar, egg whites, water and salt together in a large metal bowl.  Set bowl over a simmering pan of water; whisk constantly until sugar dissolves and mixture is hot to the touch.  Remove bowl from simmering saucepan and stir in marshmallows pieces.  Let stand for 3-5 minutes until marshmallow pieces have softened. Return bowl to simmering water and beat together using a hand-held mixer.  Beat for several minutes until mixture thickens. Remove bowl from simmering water and add beer reduction. Continue to beat mixture until it has cooled slightly.

Preheat oven to broil.

Divide mixture between two pie pans and place under broiler in oven.  Watch constantly – it’s easy for the marshmallow to burn! Remove from oven when nice and toasty.

Refrigerate pies until well set – about 3-4 hours. Do not skip this step. The meringue needs the refrigerator time to set properly.

Enjoy!

Note:  Use a warm knife (dipped in hot water then wiped dry) to achieve cleanly cut slices of pie.  That marshmallow topping is sticky!