“Do you want to make dessert?” I asked my grandson Daniel last week in Austin.
“YES.” The kid is definitely a good branch on the family tree.
“What should we make?” I’m thinking cookies, brownies, cake, …
“Pie,” Daniel said with confidence.
“Uh, sure. What kind?” I was a bit stunned.
“Chocolate.” Ah, he’s very, very much my grandson.
“I’ll look at the recipes on my computer,” I told him.
“Don’t bother. I’ll get one.” He sat at the computer in the kitchen.
Okay, the kid wants a race? No contest. I go to my directory of recipes and start the search for “chocolate” and “pie” and …
“Found it!” Daniel exclaimed. Apparently, if you eleven years old and facile, you can beat the crap out of your grandfather.
Oh, well. Daniel found this decadent recipe on myrecipes.com and we duly made it. The pie is a delight. Easy to create, very easy to eat. It’s a true treat. For the crust, we used the Great Graham Cracker Crust I posted here yesterday. One pie lasted one hour with five pie lovers.
This is just the rich, end-the-meal-with-a-bang dessert you want for your weekend barbeque or picnic. If you have a budding chef in your family, there is plenty for them to do and learn from here.
Chocolate Icebox Pie
Yield: one 9-inch pie
Ingredients:
- ⅔ cup milk
- ¾ cup semisweet chocolate morsels
- ¼ cup cold water
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 9-inch pie crust
- 1 cup whipping cream
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup chopped pecans, optionally toasted
- 1 2-ounce chunk of milk chocolate, finely grated
Preparation:
Heat the milk until it just begins to bubble around the edge in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat (do not oil). Remove from the heat. Whisk in the chocolate morsels until melted. Cool slightly.
Stir together the cold water and cornstarch until dissolved.
Whisk the cornstarch mixture, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Boil 1 minute or until the mixture thickens and is smooth. Do not overcook.
Removed from the heat, and whisk in the butter. Spoon in the mixture, which will be thick now, into the piecrust. Smooth the top, cover lightly with foil, and refrigerate for 8 hours.
Beat the whipping cream at high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar beating until stiff peaks are achieved. Add the vanilla and fold in by hand.
Spread the whipped cream evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the nuts and grated chocolate over the whipped cream top.
Source: Adapted from myrecipes.com
