Chocolate Cream Pie Done Right

Recently, I was having a serious craving for chocolate cream pie. Easy enough, right? Just drop into the nearest diner and pick up a slice. Yeah, not so much. After much googling and wracking of my brain, I eventually decided I would have to make my own. I couldn’t find a place locally that I could be sure wouldn’t disappoint. Since I’d never made a chocolate cream pie before, I needed to do some research. Off to Pinterest and Google, then. For some reason, every recipe I looked at had either cocoa or chocolate. When given the opportunity to use both, why on earth would you pass it up?? I mean, we’re making CHOCOLATE cream pie, after all. Now chocolaty pudding pie, or chocolate-ish custard pie. Well, I went all in, and boy did it pay off.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 1 pie crust
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ¼ cup cocoa
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 cups whole milk
• 4 ounces dark chocolate
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 

Before you get started on the filling, you’ll need a pie crust. I used a frozen one form Trader Joes, and it was fantastic. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of making your own, I highly recommend theirs. Either way, the crust needs to be blind baked until it’s nicely golden and then cooled completely. Once that’s done, go ahead and chop your chocolate. Once again, I turned to Trader Joes for that. I love their pound plus bars.

Put that aside, and into a medium sized saucepan, sift the cornstarch and cocoa.

Stir that together with the sugar and salt.

Separate 4 eggs, placing the yolks in bowl. Give them a quick whisk.

Here’s another place where I parted company from all the recipes I found. Even my own recipes, in the past, have always said to heat the milk and then temper the yolks before adding them to the mixture. At some point, my brain said, “if you’re going to bring it to a boil once the eggs are in anyway, why not just add them in the beginning?” It seemed like sound enough logic to me, so I did it, and it worked beautifully. So, go ahead and add the egg yolks to the milk and whisk that thoroughly.

Pour that mixture over the dry ingredients. Stir everything together and turn the heat to medium.

At first, it’s going to be a bit messy, but don’t worry.

As it warms up, it will sort itself out. Just keep whisking and stirring. I like to alternate between a whisk and a silicone spatula.

Continue stirring until it reaches a boil and becomes nice and thick, then turn off the heat.

Add the chopped chocolate and stir until it’s completely melted and incorporated.

Next, add the butter and vanilla. And yes, more stirring.

Now, just to be safe, pour the pudding through a mesh strainer. This will ensure that you have no lumps (cornstarch, cocoa, curdled egg, whatever). It’s quite thick, so you’ll have to stir it to get it through the strainer.

And don’t forget to scrape everything off of the underside. There’s lots of deliciousness stuck there.

Now, pour the finished pudding into the prepared pie crust and level it out on top.

Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface. Allow it to cool, and then refrigerate it for at least 3 or 4 hours. Overnight would be even better.

When the pie is nice and cold, whip some cream. 

• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 

Whip until it’s nice and stiff. Although, be careful not to go too far. I’ve never actually had it happen, but apparently it will turn to butter at some point.

I piped the whipped cream onto my pie, but you can just spread it if you’d prefer.

Now, to make it pretty, top it with some finely grated chocolate. Just warm the chocolate slightly between your hands, and grate it on the finest side of a box grater. How gorgeous is that?

This pie is creamy, chocolaty, and delicious. Hubby said it was the best pie he’s ever tried. That’s a huge compliment, because he’s not a big fan of sweet things, and he’s also not shy about telling me what he really thinks of my cooking. I will definitely be making this pie again.

What food do you have to make yourself if you want it done right? 

Does Oatmeal Make It Healthy?

Is there anything better than a chocolate cake? I’m not talking about that grocery store stuff that hardly tastes like chocolate and is smeared with a layer of artificially colored, sweetened shortening.  I’m talking about deep, dark, rich, chocolately goodness covered with fudgy deliciousness. That's exactly what this oatmeal chocolate cake is. I know I always go on about how important high quality ingredients are, but with chocolate, it’s more important than ever. If you make a cake with hersheys chocolate and generic cocoa, that’s exactly what it will taste like.  I’m not saying you have to put yourself in the poorhouse, but buy something decent. When using chocolate chips from the store, opt for the Ghirardelli or Guittard rather than the store brand or Nestle ones.  As for cocoa, I suggest a high quality, dutch process variety.  I get mine from Penzeys. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 6 Tablespoons butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¾ cup flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cocoa
• ½ cup old fashioned oats
• ¾ cup boiling water 

The first thing you need to do is pour the boiling water over your oats and set them aside. 

Now is probably a good time to preheat your oven to 350°, as well.  Then, in a mixing bowl, combine your softened butter, sugar, and molasses.  Mix it for a minute or two, scraping everything down once in the middle.  It won’t really get fluffy, per se, because it’s a bit heavy on the sugar side, but it should be light in color and soft. 

Add the egg and vanilla.

Stir until they’re incorporated. 

Then scrape everything down again, and mix it for another minute.  I’ll be honest, it’s not terribly pretty at this point, but don’t panic, it’ll get better. 

Sift in the dry ingredients and mix until they’re incorporated. 

Now come the oats, along with any water they didn’t absorb. 

Stir them in and then scoop the batter into a buttered 8 x 8 pan.  As you can see, the batter is quite stiff, but that’s just as it should be. 

Spread it to the edges, doing your best to even it out across the top, then into the 350° oven for 35 minutes. 

Now, the frosting for this cake gets poured on while the cake is still hot, so I like to start on it when the cake has been in the oven for about 10 minutes.  I didn’t take an ingredients picture for the frosting,

But here’s what you’ll need: 

• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup cocoa
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup milk
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup chocolate chips
• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar 

Combine the sugar, salt, and sifted cocoa in a sauce pan. 

Stir them until they’re evenly distributed. 

Pour in the milk,

And add the butter.

Stir constantly over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture just reaches a boil. 

Then remove it from the heat and add the vanilla and chocolate chips. I used a combination of dark chocolate and semi-sweet, but you can use whichever suits your fancy that day.

Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and you have this gorgeous concoction.

Now, sift in half of the powdered sugar.

Make sure it’s completely incorporated before adding the second half. 

Then stir that in and your frosting is ready for the cake. And speaking of cake, it should be just about done. When it’s ready, a toothpick inserted in the center should come out pretty much clean. A few crumbs are ok, just not wet batter. 

Pour the fudge frosting over the hot cake.

Stop drooling, because now comes the hard part. Allow the cake to cool completely before cutting into it.  It’ll probably take 2 – 3 hours, minimum, for it to cool and the frosting to set. 

I just sprinkled my piece with mini chocolate chips to make it more aesthetically pleasing, it really isn’t necessary.  In full disclosure, I actually took them off before eating it. This cake is absolutely fabulous just the way it is. It’s not like, wow, there’s oatmeal in my cake. If you didn’t make the cake, you’d probably never guess there was oatmeal in it, you’d just think, ‘I love the fantastic texture of this cake!’ and the fudge frosting is pure bliss. 

What’s your favorite chocolate treat?

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