Chocolate Cream Pie

If any of you saw my facebook status one day last week, I posted I think I may have just talked myself into baking a chocolate cream pie tonight. The thing I realized about myself is when it comes to baking and I have a craving or a thought of making something, I will obsess about making that thing until I make it. As was the case with chocolate cream pie, having never made one before, I was intrigued to make one plus it just sounded really really good! Where did I go to look for a chocolate cream pie recipe, yes of course Pinterest!! You know the saying you eat with your eyes, Pinterest totally makes my stomach grumble while looking at images of desserts, meals, yummy drinks, oh the list just goes on and on...

I found two great recipes and combined them actually to make this chocolate cream pie. I wanted a dough pie crust, not a cookie crumb crust so I took the chocolate cream filling of one recipe and used the dough pie crust recipe of another, and viola, chocolate cream via Meg Henning!

First, gather together your ingredients.

For the crust you need: 1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon white sugar, 1/8 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 cup very cold butter, cut into small chunks

3-4 Tablespoons ice water.

For the chocolate cream filling you need: 2/3 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 

4 large egg yolks, 3 cups whole milk, 7 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

For the cream topping you need: 3/4 cup heavy cream,  1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. 

Start this pie by making the crust. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In your food processor, add the flour, baking soda, sugar and salt. Puls a few times to combine all the dry ingredients. Add in the butter chunks and puls the ingredients until the mixture is the consistency of sand. Add in the 3 tablespoons of water and pulse, pulse. If the mixture is a bit dry add in another tablespoon of water. Once the ingredients are completely mixed, take the dough out, pat it into a disk and put the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. After a half n hour, pull the dough out and on a floured surface, roll the dough into a larger circle and place the dough into a 9 inch pie pan. Lay down a sheet of parchment paper on the dough, add some dough weights or beans or in my case some rice to keep the parchment paper down. 

Bake the crust in the oven for 25-30 minutes, then pull the crust out and let it cool completely. 

When the crust is baking in the oven, get started on your chocolate cream filling. In a Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pan, pour in the white sugar, cornstarch and salt.

 Stir to completely mix the ingredients together. In a bowl, add in the milk and the eggs and whisk them to break up the yolks. 

Slowly add in the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk the ingredients together continually so lumps of cornstarch don't occur. 

Turn on the heat under your sauce pan and whisk the liquid mixture for 6-8 minutes continually until the cream is thick and bubbly. You have to whisk frequently while the cream is thickening up or else you will have scrambled eggs in your chocolate cream pie. 

Once the cream is thick and bubbly, turn down the heat to a simmer and cook it for one more minute. Take your pot off of the heat, pour in the chopped chocolate and cubed butter and stir to melt all the chocolate.

Once the chocolate and butter have been fully incorporated into the cream, pour the chocolate cream into another bowl and put plastic wrap over the chocolate but make sure the plastic wrap is touching the top layer of the chocolate cream. 

If you don't do this then your chocolate cream will create a skin while it is cooling in the refrigerator. Allow the chocolate cream to cool completely in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Once the chocolate cream is fully cooled, pour all the chocolate cream into your cooked and cooled pie crust. 

In your mixing bowl with the whisk attachment, add the heavy whipping cream, white sugar and vanilla extract. Whip the ingredients on high until soft peaks form. Using a spatula, pour the whipping cream over the chocolate cream layer and spread it around. I finished my chocolate cream pie with chocolate sprinkles.

Then serve a slice, eat and enjoy!

Anyone wanna come over to my house and have a slice?? Sean will be away this weekend and I need some company :-)

p.s. if anyone of you could say an extra prayer of protection please my parents are flying to Japan today to visit my brother for a visit who is studying abroad for a few months. Thanks!