Top 100 Cake Blog

Top 100 Cake Blog

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

French Silk Chocolate Pie


Last week, when my mother fell ill, I unexpectedly found myself in Akron. While I spent most of my time with her, I did attend one estate sale and purchased a c. 1987 dessert cookbook published by the PTA of my elementary school, Fairlawn.  (Its name has since been changed to the Judith A. Resnick School; the Challenger astronaut was a former student.)

The Fairlawn PTA, I read in the cookbook, received national recognition in 1957 when it began sponsoring French classes for grades one to six. I am forever grateful for those classes, as I still remember the French I learned as a young child. (It stayed with me more than the high school French I studied.)

Anyway, I wanted to bake something chocolate for my mother, for there's little she loves above chocolate, but was daunted by the limited baking tools in her kitchen. Then I discovered this French Silk Chocolate Pie recipe -- easy and perfect! The only tools required are a bowl and beater (and a pan or microwave to melt the chocolate).

The recipe says it's "very rich and chocolaty" and it is. French silk pie is basically a chocolate mousse in a pie crust.

I began with some supermarket Baker's semi-sweet chocolate.


After melting the chocolate (and setting it aside to cool), beat the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, beating well after each addition.


Stir in the melted chocolate...


and pour into a pre-baked pie crust. Refrigerate for several hours.



Production notes: I cheated and used a store bought crust (not recommended unless you're as desperate as I was). Make sure the butter is really soft and beat the sugar in for a long time, or better yet, use superfine sugar. (I didn't do either, and there were still some sugar crystals in the finished product.)
To serve, whip some heavy cream and place a dollop on each slice. With a knife, grate some of the chocolate on top for a nice presentation.


10 comments:

  1. I am glad you made this, it is becoming rare for recipes with raw eggs. We have always enjoyed homemade eggnog in our home and there has never been a problem. This I want to make, thank you.

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    1. I love desserts with raw eggs, and make them often, but never with supermarket eggs, which I absolutely don't trust. Though I used them in this pie, because they were the only ones available. Happy to report we all survived! Thanks for writing, Melynda!

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  2. Hope your mom is feeling better and enjoyed her pie & spending time with you.
    There is so much love is in the goodies we bake.

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    1. Thanks, Mary Ellen! She did love the pie and has recovered. Wonder if there's a correlation there!

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  3. I'm planning to make a French silk chocolate pie for pie day next month. I think I'll use the same modern recipe from America's Test Kitchen I used last year. It has much more chocolate for 21st century palates and was *extremely* popular the last time I made it. This classic recipe looks good too.

    Bethany the Vintage Baker

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    1. Hope your pie came out well, Bethany. There is something to be said for modern recipes, using superior chocolate! I find it interesting though, that Americans are so much heavier these days, maybe on account of the more modest ingredients used in classic recipes?

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  4. I used to make this pie in high school, and I loved it! Thanks for the memories!

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    1. Witloof -- Me too! Really brought back some memories for me.

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  5. Had all the ingredients on hand, so I made the cream cheese variation today --quick, easy & delicious! I used super-fine sugar as suggested and decreased amt slightly . I made a graham-cracker crust for mine. My husband gobbled it up ! Thank you :)

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    1. Sounds fabulous! Love the graham cracker crust idea. Thanks for the report!

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