Kahlua Cream Cheese Pie

We had friends over this past Saturday night for dinner and I made a chocolate Kahlua cream cheese pie for dessert. It’s one of my favorite pies to serve to company. You want to make your guests happy….and who doesn’t love chocolate?!!!

If you have leftovers, you can freeze this pie and thaw it to eat more later. It freezes really well! I freeze the leftovers so we don’t eat all the leftovers in one weekend. Of course, I have discovered that frozen Kahlua cream cheese pie tastes good too….

KAHLUA CREAM CHEESE PIE

Crust:

2 ½  cups chocolate wafer sandwich cookie crumbs
3 T. granulated sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Stir together all ingredients in a medium bowl. Press crumb mixture into a deep dish 9-inch pie pan. Refrigerate until ready to fill.

Filling:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 T. unsalted butter
1/4 cup Kahlua
12 oz. (1 ½ pkgs) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
2 eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup sour cream

For filling, melt butter and chocolate chips in double broiler or in small saucepan over very low heat. Stir in Kahlua and heat about a minute more, until mixture is totally melted and blended together. Set aside and let cool slightly. In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and salt together until fluffy and there are no cream cheese lumps. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Add sour cream, and beat just until blended. Pour filling into prepared crust. Bake in a 325°F oven for 30 minutes—until center is poofy and no longer jiggly. Remove from oven and cool at room temperature. Then refrigerate several hours, or overnight.

Topping:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extra
Optional: 1 pkt. Dr. Oatker’s “Whip It” (“Sahnesteif”) whipped cream stabilizer

Up until one day before serving, whip cream with vanilla and powdered sugar to stiff peaks. Mix in the whipped cream stabilizer, if desired (This is very helpful if you are piping your whipped cream and doing it more than a few hours in advance, because the stabilizer will allow your whipped cream to keep its shape for several days). Pipe or spread whipped cream on pie. Garnish with chocolate-covered espresso beans, or chocolate leaves, curls and/or sprinkles.

Enjoy!