That's how I felt today. I had the stares. And the shuffling gait. Muffled sounds were made. Not a pretty picture. And then I had a cup of coffee. And everything was good again. Well, sort of. While the Nespresso was making its way through my system (eyes re-focussing - check, brain de-fuzzing - check), I was trying to navigate my way through the kitchen without bumping into too much stuff. My objective? A piece of chocolate cream pie. With a single-minded focus on the dark chocolate wafer crust and creamy pudding-like filling (personally, the whipped cream doesn't do it for me), I edged closer to the fridge with arms shooting straight ahead, reaching for the handle (geez, I guess the Nepresso didn't hit all spots yet since the zombie-posing was back). Door flung open, eyes now (kinda) wide with anticipation, and..... no pie. Just a tell-telling trail of cocoa powder dust where the pie previously lay in wait.
Me thinks that a certain Monarch has been here. You'll have to excuse me while I go check if said tell-telling cocoa powder has darkened his pristine goatee...
For the record, this is what the pie looked like, from start to finish...
chocolate crust....
becoming a custard...
thickened and strained custard...
now a chocolate kinda pudding...
bowl licked clean...oops, how did that get in here?!?
getting ready to hit the fridge for a few hours...
a bottle of porto peeking from behind the whipped cream...
APB out for this pie....
chocolate crust....
becoming a custard...
thickened and strained custard...
now a chocolate kinda pudding...
bowl licked clean...oops, how did that get in here?!?
getting ready to hit the fridge for a few hours...
a bottle of porto peeking from behind the whipped cream...
APB out for this pie....
Chocolate Cream Pie (adapted from Gourmet)
For crust
- 1 1/3 cups chocolate wafer crumbs (from about 26 cookies such as Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers)
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup sugar
For filling
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 large egg yolks
- 3 cups whole milk
- 5 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), melted
- 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For topping
- 3/4 cup chilled heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Make crust:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together crumbs, butter, and sugar and press on bottom and up side of a 9-inch pie plate (1-quart capacity). Bake until crisp, about 15 minutes, and cool on a rack.
Make filling:
Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and yolks in a 3-quart heavy saucepan until combined well, then add milk in a stream, whisking. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking, 1 minute (filling will be thick).
Force filling through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, then whisk in chocolates, butter, and vanilla. Cover surface of filling with a buttered round of wax paper and cool completely, about 2 hours.
Spoon filling into crust and chill pie, loosely covered, at least 6 hours.
Make topping:
Just before serving, beat cream with sugar in a bowl using an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks, then spoon on top of pie.
Cooks’ note: Pie (without topping) can be chilled up to 1 day.
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