Slightly Decadent French Silk Pie

A few people I know have a thing for French Silk Pie. There was a place called the Village Inn in Jacksonville that made amazing pies. No Village Inn anymore and besides I live in Myrtle Beach. I found a good recipe for it, but trimmed it way down (omitted all the blabbing and of course no pictures or videos or advertisements) and merged it in with multiple other sources, since most recipe instructions have their strengths and weaknesses. Thank you, Martha Stewart, for the blind baking tutorial and I used your words to describe it.

Refer to previous blog post on how to make a butter pie crust, if so inclined.

Make this pie a full day ahead of when you plan to serve it.

Equipment

• Stand mixer

• Mixing bowls

• Parchment paper and dried beans or pie weights.

• Deep dish pie plate and server

• (optional) Mandolin slicer for bittersweet chocolate curls (garnish) or you may use a vegetable peeler or omit the curls altogether.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2. 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3. 4 Oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled completely

4. 2 tsp vanilla extract

5. 4 large eggs

6. 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

7. 8 Oz tub Cool Whip (I would not recommend sugar free)

8. 1 tbsp powdered sugar

9. (optional) Small bar of bittersweet dark chocolate for garnish

10. Deep dish frozen pie crust (or make your own) OR GRAHAM CRACKER PIE CRUST NOTES: The eggs in this recipe are not cooked. All USDA eggs (the ones you will find in a supermarket) have been pasteurized in the shell. Farm fresh eggs may or may not have been pasteurized by them. If you are concerned about this, “do your own research”.

Overview

1. Make the pie crust first if not using store-bought.

2. Next make the filling and refrigerate it for at least an hour before using. This allows it to set up and thicken before adding to the pie shell. The steps to make the filling are given below. You will use the stand mixer and multiple bowls.

3. Once completed, cover and refrigerate overnight. You can certainly eat it after it has chilled for several hours, but the filling needs time to set up. Any graininess you may have detected when you tasted the filling will be gone after a good night’s rest.

4. Serve the next day.

Instructions

1. (Skip if using a store-bought graham cracker pie crust) Fully bake (“blind bake”) the pie crust. If you have par baked a crust before, like for quiche, this is not the same thing because the pie… with filling… will not be baked. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prick bottom of pastry all over with a fork. Line the pastry with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until the edges begin to color, about 30 minutes. Remove parchment paper and weights and continue to bake just until the pastry dries out and turns a deep amber color, about 10 minutes more. Set aside to cool completely on a wire rack and turn off oven (we are done with it).

2. Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool to room temperature. (If you add vanilla to hot or quite warm melted chocolate it may seize up.)

3. Beat sugar and butter on medium high until light and fluffy, about 6-7 minutes.

4. Add room temperature chocolate and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.

5. Add eggs, two at a time, beating a full 5 minutes after each addition. Put all this filling (sugar, butter, chocolate, eggs, vanilla) in a separate bowl.

6. Pour the 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream in the stand mixer bowl and beat slowly at first and increasing speed until stiff peaks form.

7. Incorporate the whipped cream into the filling, scraping down the sides and stirring repeatedly until there are no white streaks or spots remaining.

8. Cover the bowl of filling with Saran Wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least one hour (one to three hours).

9. Pour the chilled filling into the pie crust and smooth out the top (although this will be covered by whipped cream… we just want it to be fairly even).

10. Top with Cool Whip. Make it nice and smooth and rather thick but not thicker than the chocolate filling.

11. (optional) Shave bittersweet dark chocolate bar into many curls and garnish. This is best done by heating the chocolate bar edge that will be shaved off in steps.

12. Viola! You have done it, Monsieur or Mademoiselle. Kiss your fingertips. (By the way, this dessert’s origin is not French, it is American.)

13. Cover and refrigerate overnight.