Bramble & Spice

The dark chocolate filling in this pie is smooth and delicious. The unsweetened chocolate adds a note of complexity and the whipped cream on top rounds out the bite. This pie looks beautiful with zero decorating ability required. The whipped cream is spread out evenly on top of the filling and sprinkled with chocolate shavings. In addition to making the pie look delicious, the chocolate on top adds just the right amount of texture.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Slightly adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

1 fully baked pie shell, cooled

For the filling:

2 ½ cups half-and-half

1/3 cup sugar (divided)

Pinch salt

6 egg yolks

2 Tb cornstarch

6 Tb unsalted butter, cubed

6 oz dark chocolate, chopped fine

1 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:

1 ½ cups heavy cream

2 Tb sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate for shavings

Finely chop the chocolate and set aside. Bring the half-and-half, 3 Tb sugar, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. While the half-and-half is warming, whisk together the yolks, remaining 2 Tb and 1 tsp of sugar, and cornstarch together in a large bowl.

Keep a close eye on your half-and-half, you want to catch it as soon as it comes to a boil, otherwise it will boil over and make a mess. Once it has come to a boil, remove it from the heat and splash a small amount into the yolk mixture. Whisk well to combine. Add a thin, steady stream of hot half-and-half to the yolks while whisking constantly. If you are having trouble keeping your bowl steady or want a free hand to hold onto the bowl, you can continue to temper the half-and-half in by adding small splashes at a time. Once you’ve whisked in about half of the liquid, you can add the remaining half-and-half more quickly, whisking thoroughly.

Return the mixture to the pan over medium-high heat. Whisk constantly until the cream thickens and begins to boil. Remove from heat. Add butter and chocolate and whisk until everything has melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla.

Pour the warm filling into the pie shell. Cover the filling by pressing plastic wrap directly onto the surface, in order to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until filling is fully chilled and set, about 4 hours.

For the chocolate shavings, cut along the edge of a piece of chocolate, cutting as thinly as you can. In a clean bowl, whip cream, sugar, and vanilla together until it holds a soft peak (for more explicit directions, see this post on whipped cream). Spread the whipped cream evenly over the filling and top with chocolate shavings. Refrigerate until whipped cream has chilled, about 30 minutes.