Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Williams-Sonoma Chocolate Pudding Pie

I love this pie! As most of you know, I am a preschool director.  We have a monthly birthday lunch where we all eat way yummy food and we eat way too much.  Susan is one of my four year old teachers. She made this yummy pie last month for Julie's birthday.  I LOVED it.  Some of the teachers thought it was really rich - not me!  I could have eaten half the pie but I did limit myself to a few bites.  I made it a few weeks ago when my girls were home from college.  They loved it too. This would be a great pie for your next family gathering or holiday!

Please visit the Williams-Sonoma website  - their pie is way prettier than mine!


Williams-Sonoma Chocolate Pudding Pie

For the Cookie Crumb Crust:

1 1/4 cups cookie crumbs, graham crackers, chocolate wafers or ginger snaps (I used Oreo crumbs)
5 Tbsp.  unsalted butter (I used salted - it is what I had)
3 Tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  In a bowl, combine crumbs, butter and sugar.  Stir until crumbs are well moistened.  Pat the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom and all the up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan or dish.  Bake until the crust is firm - about 5 minutes.  I like a crunchy crust.  For a firmer crust, bake 5 minutes more.

For the Filling:

2 1/2 cups milk
5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into slivers
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a heavy non-aluminum saucepan over low heat, warm together the milk and the chocolate, whisking until the chocolate is melted; the mixture will be speckled.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar.  Add the cornstarch and salt, then vanilla - whisk until well blended.  Slowly pour the warm chocolate mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly until well blended.  Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat until it thickens and begins to bubble slowly, at least 6 - 8 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir until smooth, about 1 minute.

Pour the filling into the crumb crust and smooth with a spatula.  Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface, and refrigerate until completely cold and firm, 2 - 3 hours.

For the Topping:

1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat together the cream, sugar and vanilla until a stiff peak forms.  Spread the whipped cream on top of the pie.  *Decorate with chocolate curls. Refrigerate until ready to serve, but let the pie stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving to take the chill off.

*To make decorative chocolate curls, wrap a medium-size chunk of semi-sweet chocolate in plastic wrap.  Rub the wrapped chocolate between your hands for 1 -2 minutes to warm it; the chocolate should not melt.  For large chunks, microwave on low 5 seconds.  Unwrap the chocolate and, using a vegetable peeler, slowly and evenly scrape the edge of the chunk until curls form.  If the chocolate is cold, the peeler will make ragged shavings rather than curls.

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