First things first:  Many, many moons ago, I used to work at a hotel near Denali National Park, Alaska.  It was a very cool experience.  At the hotel restaurant, where I held various jobs over the different years, the menu would change dramatically from one tourist season to the next.  However, there was one item which was sacrosanct:  The Tundra Mud Pie.  This dessert was a glorious combination of an Oreo crumb crust, coffee Haagen Dazs, and a fudge-like layer on top.  It was a simple dessert, but holy shit was it awesome.  One time, my roommate and I broke into the kitchen at 2am to steal one and eat it.  Anyway, I’ve always thought about recreating it but only now actually got around to doing it.

A caveat before we get started:  Two caveats, really.  The first is that I got screwed by the supply chain and my grocery store only had coffee chocolate chip ice cream, so that’s what I had to use.  The second is that I have no idea how the top layer was made (this was the one dessert that got trucked in—everything else was made on site), so I decided to use a half-portion of the recipe from the Buster Bar Torte topping.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Oreo crumb pie crust

Haagen Dazs Coffee Ice Cream

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Small Can Evaporated Milk

⅓ Cup Chocolate Chips

¼ Cup Butter

Soften ice cream and spread on top of cookie crust.  Place in the freezer until completely firm.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine powdered sugar, evaporated milk, chocolate chips and butter.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, stirring gently but constantly, for eight minutes.  Allow to cool for one hour.

Spread cooled chocolate mixture over the pie.  Freeze until ready to serve.

With the understanding that it’s been literally 30 years since I’ve had this dessert…it’s a pretty good reproduction of what I remember.  Will I make it again?  You bet your sweet ass I will—but next time I’ll damned sure wait for the regular coffee ice cream to be in stock.