Decorative Chocolate Cream Pie

We’re having company over for dinner tomorrow night. I thought I’d make a post about what we’re having for dessert…chocolate cream pie. I’ve found over the years that chocolate cream pie is a dessert that practically everyone likes. This recipe comes from the 1980 Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. It’s the best chocolate cream pie recipe that I’ve ever found.

1 9-inch baked pie shell (I use the recipe I posted last July), cooled
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
2 cups whole milk
2 squares unsweetened chocolate, grated
3 large egg yolks
3 T. butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Whipped cream for garnish, plus chocolate leaves, sprinkles or curls—if desired.

Whisk the three egg yolks in a pint-sized bowl and set aside. In a 2-quart saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, salt, milk and grated chocolate. Over medium heat, cook mixture, stirring constantly, cook until mixture is thickened and boils (about 10 minutes). Spoon about a half-cup’s worth of the chocolate mixture into the beaten egg yolks and quickly whisk together. Pour this chocolate-egg yolk mixture back into the pan with the rest of the chocolate mixture. Blend together well. Stir over low heat until very thick (about two minutes), and mixture mounds when dropped from a spoon (don’t allow to bowl though). Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Then pour into baked pie shell. Cover the surface of the chocolate mixture with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cool and set—about 3-4 hours. Then you can remove the plastic wrap and garnish.

I piped whipped cream on my chocolate cream pie (above), and garnished it with dark chocolate, white chocolate and peanut butter leaves. I made these with a leaf mold, that I filled with melted Candy Wafers (available from Hobby Lobby). You can also use Wilton’s Candy Melts, which you can buy at craft supply stores like Michael’s, or "real" chocolate if you temper it first. One final touch was to sprinkle Cocoa Pearls on top of the piped whipped cream. These are available at Trader Joe’s, and add a special touch to the pie.

Have a great weekend everyone!
~Becky