Sometimes you’ve got to shirk tradition and go with something unexpected. For the past two years, I’ve made this pie and served it at Thanksgiving, along with the expected pumpkin pie for the girls. This pie is gooood. My parents were with us this year for the holiday and when mom is pleased, you know it’s a good one. Oh, and might I add, this is a winner in Chris’s book, too.

Ingredients:

For the pie:

• Deep dish pie shell (homemade or store bought)
• 3 eggs + 2 tbsp. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 oz. baking chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)
• 12 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

For the topping:

• sweetened whipped cream
• chocolate curls

Preparation:

Prebake the pie shell according to recipe and set aside.

Place the bowl and whisk attachment of the stand up mixer in the freezer to use later when whipping the cream.

In a small sauce pan, combine whisked eggs, vanilla, and milk over medium-low heat. Using a candy thermometer with a clip to secure to the side of the pan, stirring constantly, heat until thermometer reaches about 160 degrees. You must stir the entire time; otherwise, you’ll get cooked scramble eggs which is no bueno! Remove from heat and pour mixture into a small glass cup, set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute, stir, and if necessary, an additional 30 seconds. Stir until smooth. Set aside.

Remove the bowl and whisk from the freezer and attach to the stand up mixer, and beat the whipping cream on high. I use a towel to place over the mixer to eliminate splatters everywhere 🙂 and I do mean everywhere! Whip until stiff peaks appear. Transfer the whipped cream into another bowl and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

In the stand up mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed. Add the egg mixture and chocolate (both of which should be at room temperature) and beat for 3-5 minutes, until smooth and silky. Carefully fold in the whipped cream and incorporate thoroughly. Pour the filling into the pie crust, cover with plastic wrap, then refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Before serving, make whipped cream. In the picture above, I used a pint of whipping cream, 3 tbps. sugar, 2 tsps. vanilla extract and whipped on high until stiff peaks form. I didn’t use it all on the pie, though.

For the chocolate curls, I used a peeler on the remaining baking chocolate and added to the top of the pie.

NOTE: In the future, I will try a graham cracker or Oreo crust.

Source: http://www.willcookforsmiles.com/2013/11/french-silk-pie.html