If you don’t like chocolate, stop reading right now. If you like “a little chocolate now and then,” go away. This recipe is for serious chocolate fiends only.
Imagine the darkest, richest truffle you’ve ever had. Now imagine taking more than a pound of the centers and pouring it into a pie shell. ‘Cause that’s about what this recipe is. This fall when it’s cooler, I’ll do my chocolate truffles and you’ll see how close the recipes are. Until then, trust me that this will be the most ridiculously rich chocolate pie you’ve ever tasted.
Ingredients
12 ounces bitter sweet or semi sweet chocolate
1-1/2 sticks butter
6 large egg whites
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons cocoa
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
pinch cream of tartar
pre-baked pie crust
Directions
Before I get started, I wanted to mention this recipe was featured on the Lexiophiles 2009 International Recipe Advent Calendar. You can check that out for lots of other great holiday recipes.
Now on with the recipe …
Make a double boiler by bringing a half pan of water to a boil, turning the heat to low, and setting a large stainless bowl over it.
Even if you already have a double boiler, do it this way. You’ll be able to mix everything in this one bowl and save on clean-up.
Put the butter in the bowl, and once it’s melted add the chocolate, cocoa, sugar and salt.
Ingredient notes: I used half bittersweet and half semi-sweet chips, both Ghirardelli. You can find them in the baking section at some grocery stores. They’re the best domestic chocolate I’ve tried. (And I’m not saying that just because I’m a chocolate snob. Try them for yourself.)
And for the sugar, I decided to use raw instead of white. Just because I saw it in the cupboard and decided to give it a shot. More on this below.
While the chocolate melts, separate the eggs (see here for tips). If you’re thinking ahead, you’ll set aside the two extra yolks to make mayonnaise once you’re done with this. If you’re distracted, or just don’t feel like it, don’t feel bad about dumping them. Eggs are cheap. They’ll make more.
Start mixing the chocolate and butter together as soon as you see the chips start to melt.
If you’ve never melted chocolate before, you might want to separate the eggs first so you aren’t distracted. When the chocolate is completely melted, and the sugar and cocoa are incorporated, remove it from the heat and mix the yolks in one at a time.
Set the chocolate mixture aside and let it cool to room temperature. While it’s cooling, add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat until it forms stiff peaks.
For the first minute the egg whites will just foam up a little. Then all at once they’ll turn pure white and look like a whole different food.
Congratulations, you just made meringue. Add about a third of the meringue to the chocolate and mix it in. Then add the rest and fold it in gently.
Try not to deflate the eggs while folding. Once the meringue is completely incorporated, pour the mixture into a pre-baked pie crust.
Spread the chocolate evenly. If you’re fussy about this stuff (like I am), make sure the top looks nice.
Remember when I mentioned the raw sugar? You can see a little bit of a speckled texture on the surface. Because raw sugar isn’t ground as fine as refined white, it didn’t completely dissolve in the melted chocolate. Once it’s frozen, you’ll barely notice the difference. As it thaws you’ll notice a slight crispy granularity. Personally, I liked it, but if you’re expecting silky-smoothness you’d be better off using powdered sugar. I heard in a comment below that even refined white sugar still left a bit of graininess.
Freeze for at least two hours, four would be better. Cut with a very sharp knife, not a pie spatula. Serve with fresh whipped cream.
And that’s it.
64 Comments
This tastes exactly like the inside of a truffle that you would buy at an expensive chocolate boutique. I used half semi sweet and half bittersweet and raw sugar and it was out of this world. My hubby told me to def. keep this recipe. Thanks!
Anon, it's really close to my truffle recipe. You know, I should post those sometime.
Do you know of any ways to substitute the eggs, dairy, and gluten in this pie for those with food allergies? That would make my dreams come true. (I know that making the meringue without eggs may prove to be impossible, but I thought that I may as well ask).
Wow, eggs, dairy and gluten? That's a tough one.
For the crust, I'd change completely to something like the graham cracker crust, but made with gluten-free crackers.
But there's a lot of butter and eggs in the filling. Once I'm substituting more than half the ingredients in a recipe, I start to think I'd be better off starting from a different recipe.
If I had to try it though … I'd replace the egg yolks with the equivalent volume crushed banana for richness. All I can find for the meringue is this quote: "As a substitute for whipped eggs, as in meringue recipes, let 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum and 1/4 C. water stand until thickened and whip like egg whites."
For the butter, in most pastry recipes you can substitute lard for butter (and vice-versa), but I don't think that would work here. I hate to recommend margarine, but when you're dealing with an allergy it may be the lesser of two evils.
Drew, thank you SO much for posting this comment. If this turns out in moderately good condition with the changes, I will be able to give it to some of my relatives (who have never tasted chocolate). I only just recently found out that Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips are dairy-free, and so why not celebrate with a delectable, rich frozen pie?
As for the graininess of the filling – I could perhaps suggest the use of Xanthan Gum to smoothe out the texture. Used in small amounts, it can do wonders!
Thanks for your help, and I hope that I've helped!
I was just wondering… You're not cooking the eggs are you? I've always been told that eating uncooked eggs would give you salmonella. Is it the quality of the eggs?
My mom never let me eat the batter for stuff even.
Thanks
No, I'm not cooking the eggs. And plenty of people will have a fit about that.
The real recommendation from scientists who have studied it is that the elderly, the very young, and those with compromised immune systems should avoid raw eggs. But "just to be on the safe side" — which is code for "It's easier to have a simple rule that's wrong, than a complex rule that's right" — that gets turned into "never eat raw eggs".
Good to know.
Thanks!
Seriously, stay away fron the Ghiradelli and use Valrhona. You'll never accept another chocolate after you taste it.
Barbara, I don't think I've ever seen Valrhona at the grocery store, and I know I've never compared the price at World Market (where they have a great selection). I'm assuming it's going to be super expensive?
Yummy recipe Drew. Thanks for sharing it.
If you prefer the taste of raw sugar, you could probably pulverize the large crystal using a spice grinder or something to cut down on the large chunks or gritty texture.
I 'heard' you mention a shortbread crust alternative a few times…is that like a cookie crust? Is there a recipe or more info in these in some other post on your blog somewhere?
Also, do you think it would be a problem to use any percentage of milk chocolate instead of bitter and semisweet? I don't love dark chocolate (though in truffle pie form, I'm sure I'd love it)…I'm just tempted to use my prefered milk chocolate chips instead or at least in part, mixed with bitter.
Thanks!
You might want to look at the graham cracker crust. The basic idea can be adapted with just about any cookie or cracker.