On the day before Thanksgiving, I should be posting apple or pecan pie recipes. But I’m not your normal gal. You’ve already got my pumpkin pie recipe, and I promise I will soon put up the apple and pecan. But this chocolate cream pie has captured my heart, and needs to be posted!
CurvyMama Pies' Chocolate Cream Pie
2015-01-02 08:40:10
Ingredients
- Pastry dough for a single-crust pie, blind-baked and cooled, OR
- Chocolate cookie crumb crust, blind-baked and cooled*
- ½ c. sugar
- 4 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp. flour
- 1 Tbsp. dark cocoa (Dutch process; Droste is good)
- 1/8 tsp. Kosher salt
- 1 ½ c. whole milk
- 1 ½ c. half-and-half
- 4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1-2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- ½ c. good-quality bittersweet chocolate, in 1” pieces or smaller (my favorite is 65 percent Belgian couverture coins)
- 1 ½ c. heavy cream
- Powdered sugar to taste
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, flour, cocoa and salt. Whisk in a little of the milk or half-and-half, mixing the liquid and dry ingredients until you're sure they're fully combined, with no lumps. Whisk in the rest of the milk and half-and-half. Whisk in the egg yolks and the vanilla.
- Over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, cook the pie filling until it thickens and comes to a boil. Take special care to whisk the bottom and sides of the pan constantly, where the filling is most likely to cook first.
- Once the filling comes to a boil, cook it for about two more minutes, whisking constantly.
- Remove from heat. Stir in the butter and the chocolate pieces. After a minute or so, mix to blend.
- Pour the filling into a bowl, spreading plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard to keep a thick coating from forming. Put it in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly. This might take 6-8 hours; don't panic if the filling seems too runny before that. It will firm up nicely when it's really chilled.
- If you need to chill it more quickly, spread the filling onto a rimmed baking sheet and put plastic wrap onto the top of the custard. When it's cooled, you can transfer it to a bowl, or go straight to filling the pie with it (just stir it a bit first). If you fill the pie, keep it chilled.
- Just before serving the pie, combine the whipping cream and the powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whip til the cream holds its shape. Scoop generous dollops onto the pie, or pipe it decoratively on top. Garnish with dark chocolate shavings or a sprinkle of cocoa.
Notes
- *For a chocolate cookie crust: combine 1 ½ c. cookie crumbs and 5 2/3 Tbsp. melted butter in a bowl. Mix thoroughly with a fork until all the crumbs are moist with the butter. Press the crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie pan. Chill thoroughly while oven preheats to 350. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Cool.
CurvyMama Pies http://curvymamapies.com/
