Chocolate Pie, Chocolate Pudding

First, it's pudding. Put it in a baked pie shell? Voila! It's a pie! 

Ok, following the new format for recipes, I'll do the ingredient list, instructions, any chatty comments, then at the bottom I'll have a printable version. Is this working for you all? 

Chocolate Pie

Put in saucepan: 

1 c. white sugar

1/3 c cornstarch

Whisk to combine. Whisk in: 

1/4 tsp salt

3 c milk

4 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue, if desired, or to make Forgotten Meringues or Coconut Macaroons)

Turn on burner to med-high. Bring to a boil stirring frequently. 

Chop finely: 

6 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate (increase sugar slightly if using bittersweet or unsweetened)

When pudding thickens enough that a bubble popping leaves a crater, remove from heat. Stir in chocolate and: 

2 tbsp butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

Stir until combined homogeneously. 

For pudding, stop here and pour into your vessels of choice. Parfait glasses or wine glasses make fun elegant little desserts! 

For pie, pour into a prebaked 9" deep dish pie crust. 

Cool completely, then serve (ok, it's yummy slightly warm, too, if you can't wait). 

Meringue

Some folks in my family don't like meringue on their pies. That's ok, I can always whip up a quick batch of cookies with the egg whites. But if yours want this light confection to finish off your succulent creation, here's my recipe. 

Preheat oven to 375F

Beat in stand mixer with whisk attachment (manual beaters or handheld work, too!): 

4 egg whites

1/3 c sugar

1/8 tsp cream of tartar (optional, but it does stabilize the froth)

begin beating the eggs until frothy, then slowly add in the sugar and cream of tartar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon on top of the pudding pie, making sure it touches the pie crust all the way around. Bake for about 10 minutes until peaks are lightly golden brown. 

Cool, then serve.

This pie was developed out of the recipe I was using before, because the First Reader loves chocolate pudding pie - it's funny, he's not a fan of chocolate, but this pie he loves. I adjusted the sugar downward, not to make it diet friendly, just to account for using semi-sweet chocolate (this is not a diet recipe! LOL. Although I'm tempted to try it with stevia or such for my keto friends. The sugar is not structurally important to the pudding. But I digress). What the sugar adjustment seems to have done is brought out the chocolate flavor. You get a rich flavor, with a mere hint of the bitter inherent in cocoa. I liked this version very much, almost more than the one I was using before. 

This pudding isn't as easy as a packet of instant pudding, but the rewards for spending a few minutes in prep, and some time near the stove (I don't stand there stirring the whole time it's cooking, really) are a pudding pie filling that is very satisfying indeed. Plus, for the kid who 'doesn't like pie' I can pour some in a parfait glass with a bit of fruit if I have it on hand and make it into a special dessert. 

When I plated this for photography I realized that I didn't want to whip up a batch of cream for the topping - the problem with food photography is that sometimes you wind up with food at odd hours and no one is waiting on you to eat. On the other hand, having people waiting while I plate, arrange, and shoot their food wouldn't be good, either - anyway, I wound up using a coconut macaroon to garnish the pie, along with a drizzle of Dulce de Leche sauce. Mmmm that was good. Doing that again! 

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