The One With the Double Chocolate Silk Pie

For Olivia's birthday brunch, pie seemed more appropriate than cake. Although I also made her a cake for the sake of cuteness and blowing out the candles. But this pie is so good I couldn't resist making it. It's adapted from a Mrs. Fields recipe, so you know it's good. And by adapted, I mean I opted to bake the crust, which seems like a pretty good idea.

This is a great pie to make up to a few days ahead of time so you have less to do at the time of the event.

 

Double Chocolate Silk Pie

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crush chocolate wafers to crumbs (I like to use Famous Chocolate Wafer cookies, found in the cookie aisle of most grocery stores). In a small bowl, pour the butter over the crumbs and use a fork to mix until all the crumbs are moist. Press firmly into a glass pie plate, beginning in the center and working in a circular pattern towards the edges. Bake for 10 minutes and then set aside to cool.

Filling

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Chocolate bar for chocolate shavings
• Whipped cream for garnish

Place your chocolate chips in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a double boiler, scald the cream (heat until bubbles just begin to form around the outside edges and a thin film has covered the top). Stir in the sugar and salt. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks. Pour about a 1/4 cup of the hot cream into the yolks to warm them. Transfer the warmed yolks to the double boiler with the remaining cream and cook over simmering water, whisking constantly, until the custard just begins to thicken and coats the back of the spoon, about 5-8 minutes. (I like to err on the side of cooking the custard just a bit longer and making it thicker, rather than run the risk of it not setting up.) Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Add the vanilla and stir until chocolate melts and the custard is smooth.

Pour the custard filling into the pie crust. Cool to room temperature. Once cooled, place plastic wrap on top of the pie and gently press into the filling to keep it from developing a crusty film. Place pie in refrigerator and chill overnight to set. Or, if you are in a rush, you can freeze the pie for 2 1/2 - 3 hours, removing about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve.

Use a vegetable peeler to shave off chocolate scrolls from a chocolate bar at room temperature. Sprinkle over pie just before serving and garnish with whipped cream.

This pie is seriously so good.  And it keeps well, too. So go ahead and make a double batch so you have some on hand for guests. And don't be intimidated by all that double-boiler and custard stuff. It is really pretty straightforward and much easier than it sounds. And it sounds very impressive when all your friends ooh and aah over your delicious pie. Because it's just that. Delicious.