Chocolate Cream Pie



Chocolate Cream Pie.  Thanks, Once Upon a Chef!
I love the internet and this food blogging thing.  I've discovered tons of great recipes and techniques from my fellow bloggers out there.  This one comes via Once Upon a Chef, a blog by an actual chef turned stay-at-home-mom.  A woman after my own heart.  
I made this pie for my husband for Father's Day, and I think I may have enjoyed it more than he has.  He likes a lighter filling in his chocolate cream pie.  This filling has quite a deep chocolate flavor and firm texture.  It's not stiff, but it stands up to a fork, which is fine by me.  The Oreo cookie crust, I think, is my favorite part.  Just about any pie made with such a crust gets my vote most days.  The original recipe called for Nabisco Chocolate Wafers, but for the life of me, I cannot find those anywhere in the Des Moines area.  Pity.  They are good for so many other things as well.
At any rate, the recipe below also calls for stabilized whipped cream, which I have a recipe for that I've created links to.  Feel free to use regular sweetened whipped cream, but know that once you've put it on top of the pie, it won't look good for very long, which is fine if you're serving enough people to finish most of the pie at the first serving.  I'm hoping this pie lasts for a few days, so I've used the stabilized whipped cream.
As always, if you have any questions about this recipe, please post a comment and I will respond probably faster than what would be considered dignified.

Chocolate Cream Pie
     --Adapted from Once Upon a Chef

Ingredients

For Crust
  • 1 1/2 cups finely crushed Oreo crumbs (white filling removed)
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

For Filling
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 28 Dove Dark Chocolate Promises, unwrapped & chopped (or 8 oz. other kind of chopped dark chocolate)
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Topping

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°. 

2. Filling: In a heavy medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt.  In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk milk and egg yolks until combined.  Pour milk mixture into pan while whisking.  Whisk until smooth.  Place pan on burner set to medium heat and cook, whisking constantly (yes, constantly), making sure to scrape bottom and edges of the pan, until mixture starts to thicken, about 7-9 minutes.  Remove from heat and immediately whisk in chocolate, butter, and vanilla.  Transfer hot filling to a bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap so that the wrap rests in contact with the filling so a skin does not form.  Refrigerate filling until cool,1-2 hours.

3. Crust: Crush Oreos (remember, filling removed) in a large zip-top freezer bag by rolling with a large rolling pin until it’s as fine as sand.  Add sugar and softened butter to the bag, zip the top, and smoosh around until all sugar and butter is incorporated.  Press mixture firmly into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate.  Bake for 10 minutes. Set on rack to cool completely.

4. Once filling and crust are cooled, spoon filling into crust and spread evenly. Cover with saran wrap, pressing directly against surface of filling, and chill for at least 6 hours or up to one day.

5. Before serving, pipe or spread stabilized whipped cream over the top.  Using the small holes on a grater, grate final Dove Dark Chocolate Promise all over the top of the pie. Refrigerate until ready to serve and then refrigerate any leftovers.

This slice is a little messy, but still fantastic.

Mmmm...it was goooood.