Chocolate Cream Pie

This is a great recipe I stumbled upon while I was working on my own version. Typically what I do is look at several recipes on a subject, compare/contrast, infuse with my own experience, and experiment until I get what I like. (I usually test things out on friends, my wife's coworkers, etc). I liked this one, though, and I'm working on a few small tweaks. For instance, I like to make chocolate cream pie in a 10" springform pan (instead of the 9"pie pan this calls for), so I need more filling than this recipe yields. Since I like the recipe, I'll probably just do 1 1/2 times the amount of ingredients in the filling only,we shall see. I also already make a chocolate crust for certain cheesecakes to fit a 10" springform, that's similar to this. The difference being, I use 2 cups of crushed oreos (about 2 sleeves worth), 6 oz melted butter, and 1/4 C of sugar. I will, however, start using the 1/4 C of brown sugar since I like the flavor better. I just wanted to share this because it really is a good recipe and not too difficult. Buon Appetito!

Chocolate Cream Pie

Based on the original recipe from Saveur magazine, Issue #126

Crust
8 Tbls. butter
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 (9-oz.) package chocolate wafer cookies

Filling
3 1/2 cups half-and-half
8 Tbls. butter, cut into hunks
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
9 egg yolks
9 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Topping
2 cups heavy cream
2 Tbls. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Yields 1 (9-inch) pie

Grease a 9-inch glass pie plate lightly and set it aside. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Make the filling:

Put the half ­and ­half in a 3­ quart pot.

Set it on the stove over medium­/high heat until it *just* starts to bubble (keep a
good eye on it so it doesn’t scorch)

While it’s heating, combine the sugar and cornstarch in a large, heat­proof bowl.

Whisk together until uniform. It will look kinda like baby powder.

Add the egg yolks to the sugar/cornstarch mixture.

Whisk until combined.

Pour the hot half­and­half into the egg yolk mixture in a thin stream. (Emphasis
on *thin* here. You want to temper, i.e. raise, the temperature of the egg yolks
gently. Pour it all in at once, and there’s a good chance the eggs will scramble.)

Keep pouring, whisking constantly, until you’ve added all the hot half­and­half.

Then pour the hot mixture back into the pot

Make sure that your butter and chocolate are chopped, ready, and waiting.

Set the pot back on the stove over medium heat.

Whisk it constantly for maybe 4 minutes. It will thicken considerably. When it’s
thick (it should coat the back of a spoon nicely), yank it off the heat.

Add the butter and chopped chocolate to the hot mixture in small handfuls. Whisk
to melt and incorporate.

Keep adding the butter and chocolate in batches, whisking all the while, until it’s
all in the pot.

When you’re done, you’ll have what looks like a big pot of hot chocolate pudding.
Add the vanilla and whisk to incorporate.

Set a mesh strainer over a large bowl. Pour the mixture through the strainer.
(This is to catch any bits of egg that may have solidified.)

Press a piece of plastic wrap to the top of the mixture while it’s hot.

Be sure to get right to the edges. The plastic wrap will keep the filling from
developing a thick skin as it cools.

Pop the filling into the fridge for about 4 hours, or until chilled throughout. As it
cools, it will thicken up.

Whip the cream and once pudding is completely cool, scrape into crust, top with cream, dust with cocoa powder or grated chocolate (I use chocolate chips and a mouli grater).

Mouli Grater

My 10" springform version