Seriously Rich Chocolate Pie

We were bringing dinner to a friend's house who had recently had a baby. Hubby made a yummy soup. The new mom then informed me it was her birthday - ack! Besides being a new mom, she is also a chocolate lover. I made a chocolate pie from Baking Illustrated. The thing about Baking Illustrated is that they try everything and tell you why to do different things - what chocolate, how much cornstarch and so forth. It is interesting, but sometimes a bit too much information. A pie should be simple.

Anyhow I had this super expensive chocolate - Vahlrona - from France, that I got from sister-in-law so I decided to use that. It was 70% and it had just the right amount of chocolate, so I used it instead of following the instructions about chocolate from the cookbook.

This recipe is a serious artery clogger, beware!

Chocolate Cream Pie with my additions

Crust

• 16 Newman's oreo type cookies
• 2 T butter

Crush the cookies finely. I use a rolling pin and plastic back. Mix in the butter melted. Press it into a pie plate. Cook it in a 350 oven for 10 minutes, until you can smell the chocolate.

Pie

• 2 1/2 c. hal-and-half
• 1/3 c sugar
  
• 1Pinch salt
• 2 T cornstarch
• 6 large egg yolks at room temp
• 6 T butter
  
• 7 ounces Vahlrona 70% dark chocolate
• 1 t vanilla (I use mexican vanilla)

Whipped Cream Topping

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 T sugar
• 1/2 t Vanilla

Bring the half-and-half, salt and 3 T of the sugar to a simmer over mediium-high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to disolve sugar. Stir together the remaining sugar and cornstarch. Whisk the yolks in another bowl until slightly thickened. Sprinkle in the cornstarch mixture and whisk until it turns glossy and sugar starts to dissolve. When the half-and-half mixture reaches a suimmer, drizzle 1/2 c over the yolks whisking constantly to temper. Then whisk the egg yolk mixture into the half-and-half. retrun to a summer, whisking constantly until 3 or 4 bubbles burst on the surface.

Take the pan off the heat and mix in the butter. And the chocolates and whisk until melted. Stir in the Vanilla. Pour into the cooled crust. Put plastic wrap on the custard and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Make the whip cream topping and spread decorately over the pie.

Yum. This was AMAZINGLY good, but soo rich. I could only eat a small bite as could the dad. But the true chocolate lovers, hubby and the mom went in for seconds.