French Silk Pie

My husband's other favorite pie (see previous Pecan pie post) is French Silk. I knew others at Thanksgiving would like this one as well and since it was also my husband's birthday, I made this one as well. The recipe comes from Paula Deen's Best Desserts magazine.

Ingredients:
2 and 1/2 cups crushed Oreo cookies (about a sleeve and half to 2 sleeves of Oreos from the package)
6 Tbsps butter, melted
1 and 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
10 (1-ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used two 4 ounce bars of Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate)
2 cups miniature marshmallows
Garnish: Oreos, whipped cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make cookie crumbs, just add the Oreos to a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs form. In a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs and melted butter, stirring until combined. Press mixture into bottom of and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 8 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1/4 cup cream, chocolate and marshmallows. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat, and let stand for 20 minutes. I actually like to let it stand longer, about 30 minutes or so.

In a medium bowl, beat remaining 1 cup whipping cream at medium-high speed with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. This takes a few minutes. You want the consistency to be slightly stiffer than whipped cream. Gently fold the cream into chocolate mixture. (Be patient, this may take a few minutes. You'll think the cream is melting into the chocolate, but it will firm up once placed to set in the fridge.) Spoon into prepared crust; chill for at least 4 hours, but overnight is best. Garnish with cookies and whipped cream, if desired.