Sunset's Chocolate Cream Pie

Submitted by Heather3271

"From the magazine's August 2007 edition: "In our quest for an intensely flavored pie, we've poured a thick, creamy bittersweet chocolate custard into an almond-scented cookie-crumb crust, then topped it all with a generous pile of whipped cream." Prep/cook time = About 50 minutes plus at least 3 hours of chilling time. Nutrition facts: 601 cal, 359 cal from fat, 8.8g protein, 41g fat (22g sat fat), 55g carb (1.4g fiber), 379mg sodium, 213mg chol."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 10

ingredients

• 32 chocolate wafer cookies (such as Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers, enough for 1-1/3 cups cookie crumbs)
• 78.78 ml slivered almonds
• 236.59 ml sugar, divided
• 88.74 ml butter, melted
• 29.58 ml butter, cut into small cubes
• 6 large egg yolks
• 768.91 ml milk
• 59.14 ml cornstarch
• 2.46 ml salt
• 226.79 g bittersweet chocolate, good quality, roughly chopped plus more for grating over pie
• 9.85 ml vanilla extract
• 354.88 ml whipping cream

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse cookies until finely ground. Transfer to a medium bowl; set aside. To processor, add almonds and 3 tbsp sugar and pulse until almonds have the texture of coarse meal. (Be careful not to grind them into nut butter.) Add ground nuts to cookies and stir in 6 tbsp melted butter. Press into bottom and sides of a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. (Crust should be fairly thick.) Bake on center rack 15 minutes; let cool.
2. Put egg yolks in a medium bowl and beat to blend; set aside. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together milk, 3/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly. (Mixture will begin to thicken.) Reduce heat to medium.
3. Whisking constantly, pour 1/2 cup hot milk mixture into egg yolks, then pour egg-milk mixture into saucepan. Bring to a simmer (about 190 degrees on an instant-read thermometer), stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. (It will thicken noticeably.) Remove from heat and stir in chocolate, vanilla, and 2 tbsp butter.
4. Pour chocolate filling into a medium metal bowl, then set bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and let cool 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until filling reaches room temperature. Pour filling into prepared crust and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto surface (to prevent a skin from forming). Chill until cold, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.
5. Just before serving, combine cream and remaining 1 tbsp sugar in a chilled bowl. With an electric mixer on high speed, beat cream until medium peaks form. Spread whipped cream in a thick dome over chocolate filling. Grate chocolate over pie.
6. NOTES: "You can prepare this pie through Step 4 up to 1 day ahead; top with whipped cream just before serving.".

Reviews

[JMS0173]

Delicious! Made just as written, except I used most of a bag of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips instead of a chopped bar. Also, I have no thermometer so just eyeballed the simmering and figured it was done. I served the whipped cream on the side and didn't sprinkle any chocolate. Could this be why the pie does not hold together so well when serving? But no matter, it is rich, sweet, chocolatey and delicious. I just had my third piece (over two days). Hint for whipped cream: add a teaspoon of corn syrup per cup of cream before whipping and use confectioner's sugar instead of regular and cream will stay whipped and stable in the fridge for at least a full day (at least it did in the bowl. Thanks very much! I will make this again!