Hey Everyone! Well, here I am again, apologizing for being away and neglecting my kitchen visitors. I do have a pretty good excuse, though. Well, it is an okay excuse. You see, I have not had the time to devote to writing posts because I have started a new job. Yep! I finally made the extremely frightening leap to search for, apply, interview and accept a new position. All of those things happened within the last 3 months. Let me tell you, I have been all sorts of messed up. I knew that I needed more income, so I started looking around and applied for a few positions. But I think that in the back of my mind I did not expect to get anywhere. I have applied for positions kind of randomly before but did not even get an interview. So, when I was offered the position, I was caught off guard. It is an amazing opportunity and I was, of course, thrilled to get the offer but I was/am terrified to make such drastic changes. I was/am also devastated to leave my old position. I had been at Illinois College for nearly 13 years. That school is my alma mater and I watched my sons graduate from there. I literally cried at my desk at IC for days while performing my duties. But I pulled on my big girl panties (figuratively) and I started at my new position right after New Year’s. It has been good so far! It is a very different atmosphere and my duties are centered around budgets rather than the wide variety of tasks that I had at IC. I am learning and adjusting. One of the biggest adjustments is the travel time. I was already driving about 50 minutes each way to work and now I have added another 30 or so to that. Yeah, that’s right. I am on the road for about 3 hours a day. Ugh. And, I am one of those irritating people who has trouble sitting still. Talk about misery. So, the point to this story is to explain that my time has been monopolized lately with preparing to leave my old job, preparing to start a new job, learning a new job, adjusting my morning and evening routines, and trying to fit in a daily workout somewhere. I just have not taken the time to write up any recipes for you all. I am about to remedy that situation.
So, with all of this upheaval, I have been in serious need of comfort and stability and normalcy. What I really needed was my mom but since she can’t be here with me, I turned to my big sisters and food of course. During the holidays we made all of the great old family recipes and traditional cookies and candies. That helped immensely. Because it was something that had not changed – and hopefully never will. I needed that. When I started thinking of my next recipe to share with all of you my mind immediately went to the dishes that reminded me of a happy time in the past. This is one of those recipes for sure.
Now, you all know how I love my chocolate. It is my very favorite flavor of anything. But, especially pie. I am not a fruit pie lover. I like it but I don’t love it. I do love any kind of chocolate pie. My very favorite is just a nice plain old chocolate cream pie. Nothing fancy but very rich and creamy and dark and delicious. My mom would occasionally make chocolate pies and her pies were good. I like mine to be a little darker chocolate than she made. She loved dark chocolate too, but my dad does not, so she made the lighter version. This recipe is quite simple. I used a pre-made refrigerated pie crust this time, but you could totally use a frozen shell or a homemade. I want to try to make a pie crust with lard. I received a cookbook for Christmas that has a lard-based recipe and it intrigues me. I know some of you are thinking “eeeewww” but let’s not judge it too hastily. Afterall, it is what my grandmothers used. I admit that there is something very unappetizing about the name…. lard. Yeah, not an appealing word. But I plan on giving it a whirl and I will let you know how it turns out. So, enough about the crust. That is not the best thing about this pie. The best thing is the creamy, dreamy splendiferous filling. It is to die for…trust me. I made this pie this time for a family dinner. So, I am ashamed to admit, I do not have pictures of the pie after it was cut. It was a thing of beauty though. I served it with some whipped topping and no other adornment. Mmmmmm.
For this glorious pie you will need a pie crust which can be refrigerated or frozen or homemade. Whatever the type, it will need to be baked according to the directions and cooled completely. You will also need 3 cups of whole milk, 4 large eggs (yolks only), 6 ½ ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 ½ cups sugar, ¼ cup cornstarch and ¼ teaspoon salt.
My recipe says to go by weight for the chocolate. The bars that I used were measured in weight so I just estimated how much I would need. I used 1 ½ bars and then ½ of another section of the remaining bar. Does that make sense? Anyway, it won’t matter that much if you are over or under a little bit. Don’t bother with getting the kitchen scale or anything. And, you can use semi-sweet or milk chocolate if you would prefer. You do you.
You don’t need to bake this pie once it is filled so no need to preheat the oven after you have your crust ready.
In a medium saucepan whisk together the sugar, salt and cornstarch. Pour in the egg yolks and milk and whisk again. Place this on medium heat and stir constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Keep stirring and watch it closely. You want for the mixture to become thick like a custard or pudding. In this picture you can see how it coats the spoon well. This will happen all of the sudden so don’t walk away. It seems like it will never thicken and then, WHAMO, there it is.
As soon as it reaches that point and starts to boil remove it from the heat. Add in the chopped chocolate, butter and vanilla. Stir until the chocolate and butter are melted completely. This is a crappy picture, I know, but you get the idea.
Pour the pudding mixture into the pie crust. My crust held all of the pudding but if your does not then just fill to the top and save the rest to eat plain. Or, eat it all out the pan while still warm while no one is watching. I’m not saying that I have ever done that and there is no evidence otherwise. Just saying… Chill for at least 4 hours or until it is set up. Don’t rush it. You want for you slices to stay intact. But, if they don’t so what. It will still be delicious.
Serve slices of this magnificent, dreamy, smooth dark chocolate cream pie with whipped cream or maybe some caramel or butterscotch ice cream topping. Raspberries or strawberries in a syrupy sauce would be great too. The possibilities are endless, and your loved ones will adore you. Enjoy!
Perfect Chocolate Pie
Ingredients
- 1 regular or deep dish pie crust baked and cooled completely
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 3 cups whole milk
- 6 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons butter
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan whisk together the sugar, salt and cornstarch.
- Pour in the egg yolks and milk and whisk again.
- Place this on medium heat and stir constantly until the mixture come to a boil. Keep stirring and watch it closely. You want for the mixture to become thick like a custard or pudding.
- As soon as it thickens and starts to boil remove it from the heat. Add in the chopped chocolate, butter and vanilla. Stir until the chocolate and butter are melted completely.
- Pour the pudding mixture into the pie crust.
- Chill for at least 4 hours or until it is set up.
