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.
Here I am making it on That’s Life with Robin Swoboda.
Want more like this? For more recipes like this, that you can hold right in your hands, and write on, take notes, tear pages out if you want (Gosh, you're tough on books, aren't you?) you might be interested in How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, 2nd edition, Illustrated. Or to learn your way around the kitchen, check out Starting From Scratch: The Owner's Manual for Your Kitchen.
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76 Comments
You know, if there are a lot of men reading this, I would just like to point out that making something like this for a woman you’re dating, or even a woman you’re not dating but would like to, would be an excellent idea. You’d be so in like Flynn. Cooking is a powerful thing. And chocolate? It’s the key to a woman’s heart. Well, mine, anyway.
Just give her a small piece. Too much of this and she’ll want a cigarette and a nap.
That looks positively sinful. I have to make it sometime!
Eating well is not a sin.
is eating like gluttony a sin?
I’ll assume you mean in the Catholic sense of “seven deadly sins”, right? You do know that list of seven doesn’t actually exist in the bible, don’t you?
I could explain why gluttony is not a sin, or I could explain why “eating well” is not the same as gluttony. But why don’t you tell me what you mean by the question?
Mmmm that must be delicious!
This looks like a dream! Just lovely. Thanks for sharing!
Looks heavenly! I hope to try it soon. I may divorce my husband to marry it, but I think he’ll get over it.
I went ahead and tried this today and was disappointed. Frozen pie seems perfect for summer, but somehow it the adult chocolate taste didn’t marry with the frozen format. Coffee, red wine, milk – none of them seemed a good match at dessert. And even with refined sugar, the graininess was distracting, perhaps because the chocolate mix didn’t incorporate easily with the meringue, which may have been a fault of mine. The directions were super-clear, great pictures. I’d like to hear what someone else thinks after they make it. I may have screwed it up.
Erica, no need for a divorce, just have an affair.
Sandy, I’m sorry to hear you were disappointed. I wonder if the extra time it took me to get the photos meant the sugar had more time to melt. I’m not a wine or coffee drinker, but I found the chocolate and whipped cream so rich that I drank water with it instead of milk.
This is speaking my language – yum!!
Yes, the language where “chocolate” can be a noun or a verb. Or an exclamation. Hmm, or an adjective … adverb … conjunction … dangling participle …
I finally made this and it turned out really well! The pie crust I used was small, so I ended up with a bit of extra filling. I poured the extra into a bowl and froze that, too… it was too yummy to waste.
I used granulated sugar, and there is a texture to it, but not very noticeable… especially with all that chocolate to distract you! I garnished with fresh strawberries, and it was amazing!
Ooh, why didn’t I think of strawberries. Okay, next time.
Somewhere I heard that the grainyness in pies came from the chocolate…somehow the shock of going from warm to cool made the chocolate seize and go grainy, much the same as raw sugar…
I hadn’t thought of the chocolate seizing. I wouldn’t think it could really cool down that fast, but it’s good to keep in mind.
I LOVE this recipe. I’ve made the crust with zest of orange, and added orange extract and the juice of half the orange. Yum
I love the combination of orange and chocolate. My wife doesn’t. She’s part of the huge majority that prefer strawberry and chocolate. In the interest of domestic harmony we leave both for toppings.
Well, I never knew any of my grandmothers, but I like to think they would have made something like this. Definitely wanna give it a try!
Make sure to post a shot of the finished product when you do.
I think this is the recipe I have been looking for for a long time. When I was younger, my Mom and sister and I made a pie very similar to this one. It had the chocolate you had to melt and eggs in it, plus it had to be frozen. I’m anxious to try this. Thanks so much.
I hope it comes out just how you remember it. Let me know what you think.
This pie saved Thanksgiving. You are my hero.
Skip, that’s awesome. Can I quote you on that?
(No, seriously … can I quote you?)
why are you calling this a truffle pie? you don’t know what a truffle is. learn something about quality chocolate. If you want good chocolate i wouldn’t use ghirardelli. They make their chocolate with vegetable oil. Disgusting. Chocolate should be made with cocoa butter. As for the truffle it is a mix of chocolate and cream with a chocolate or cocoa enrobing it.
Gosh, Whitney, thanks so much for setting me straight. And not only on this recipe, but truffles in general.
For the last 14 years that I thought I’ve been making truffles — including the two weddings I did them for — I’ve actually been making … something else, I guess.
And golly, I thought Ghirardelli was pretty good, but vegetable oil? And no cocoa butter? I would have thought I’d have noticed that. I’m usually so careful about ingredients.
So let’s see here … looking at the package … “Unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, milk fat, soy lecithin – an emulsifier, vanilla” Oh wait, that was the “60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate”.
It must be the “Semi-sweet Chocolate” that has the vegetable oil … “Semi-sweet chocolate (sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin – an emulsifier, vanilla)”.
Now this I don’t understand. You seem so sure of yourself. But you’re … wrong. Who would ever have believed that Whitney Lyn Stahl doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
Quote away :]
I’ve made six of these puppies in the last three weeks, and out of six pies I think I’ve managed to snag maybe four slices for myself. These are serious crowd pleaser pies.
Thanks for putting so much care into sharing these great recipes :]
Good lord, how many people have you been sharing them with? That’s insane.
WOW! Now that would satisfy any major chocolate craving!
Cher, it has so far. If I ever meet the person who can eat two pieces of this in a row, I’ll let you know. Of course, maybe Skip already met that person.
Pie for my family, two for the boyfriend’s family, a couple of dinner parties, “experiment” pie, they all add up. I picked the wrong week to switch to fancy free range eggs.
I think my boyfriend and his twin are the only people so far who could handle two slices. Must be genetic.
Skip, add decent chocolate and those could be some seriously expensive pies.
oh, me!
this may be sacrilege…but have you tried Splenda vs sugar?
Oh, that’s definitely sacrilege. You know what works for cutting the calories? Smaller pieces of pie. Seriously, that’s what I do. And with this pie, small pieces are plenty.
I’m so excited to try this one soon! I’m not a big fan of pie crust though.. I’m thinking a [shortbread] cookie crust would work well with this. What are your thoughts?
jacq, I almost used a cookie crust for this today. The homemade crust sagged down into the dish a little bit as it was baking, and I was afraid it wouldn’t be high enough to hold everything.
So yes, the shortbread crust would be my second choice, if I can’t do the homemade.
Hi Drew!
I’m thinking of making this pie for a Valentine’s Day treat. It looks so yummy!
My question is about the double boiler – do I REALLY have to do that? I’ve melted chocolate and butter carefully in the microwave, making sure it doesn’t burn. I just hate the ideal of acidentially seizing my chocolate if water vapor gets into it from the steam.
Have you ever cheated and just melted it together in the microwave?
And, by the way, I am a chocolate snob, when I make truffles, I use expensive chocolate, but when I’m making cookies or brownies, I alway use the Ghirardelli chips. They are so yummy!
Charlene, you probably could do it with the microwave. I’ve only tried to nuke chocolate once and … let’s just say I was sad when it was over.
Now I’d never do this in a regular double boiler, by the way. Specifically because of the problem of vapor and seizing. That’s why I’m using the largest bowl I’ve got. The vapor stays so far away from the chocolate that I’ve never had a problem.
This looks just amazing. Do you think a shortbread crust would work?
I’ve made something similar in the past, I really love a blend of ghirardelli semi-sweet and scharffenberger’s bittersweet. Makes my toes tingle!
Jennifer, this should work with just about any kind of crust except maybe a crushed Oreo. That would be ridiculous. One thing to keep in mind: This is going to be frozen. So any crust that is really moist before freezing might be hard to slice if you don’t let it thaw long enough before serving.
If people are looking for a really smooth pie, they might want to take a look at Alton Brown’s Moo-Less Chocolate Tofu Pie, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/moo-less-chocolate-pie-recipe/index.html
Not something Grandma would’ve made, but it’s easy, intensely chocolatey and did I mention easy. And no one ever guesses there’s tofu in it.
If someone made it for me I might like it. But if I knew it had tofu I’d be looking for the odd taste or texture. I am not a fan of tofu. I’m willing to admit that could be because I’ve never had it prepared well.
Looks amazing! Might try it, de-carbed. Is it good out of the refrigerator too? Or is the texture better frozen?
I’m drooling at that photo!
Lauren, I’d freeze it first then move it to the fridge. I always take it out about an hour before I’m going to serve it. Otherwise I have to work too hard to slice it. By the way, how are you going to “de-carb” it?
I made this pie tonight for my family, using a graham cracker crust. They loved it! I personally had two slices (I’m quite a chocolate fan). Let’s just say I’ll be making this more in the future. Thanks so much for posting this recipe!
Chelsea, add some marshmallow cream instead of whipped cream on top and call it a frozen s’more. (Except the frozen marshmallow would be completely impossible to eat, so don’t do that actually.)
This is very similar to the filling that we used in a recipe called lady finger cake when I was a kid. Lady fingers lined the pan to make a crust, and the chocolate filling was layers with almond macaroons. It was by far my favorite cake!
I haven’t had one in years though. The bakery where we got the lady fingers and macaroons went poof, and it’s a lot more work making /everything/ from scratch.
Anastasia, you wouldn’t happen to have a picture of that, would you? That sounds really good. Oh, the heck with the picture. I’ll just get some lady fingers and give it a shot.
And by the way, I also hate having to start by making my ingredients. Takes two days to make a freaking cake.
I first tried this pie last November or December when a friend brought it to a dessert night. I don’t recall the other desserts, but I remember eating two pieces and then taking the rest home (where I’m certain it didn’t last more than a day or two). When my friend brought it up several months later, referring to the fact that I could vouch for the delectable nature of the pie, our conversation went as such:
Erica: Do you remember the chocolate truffle pie?
Me: What pie?
Erica: You know: the pie you nearly made out with?
Me: (with silly grin) Oh, yeah, that pie!
Since then, I have made four. The most recent, I crushed chocolate cream Oreos for the bottom layer, and used agave nectar instead of sugar for a creamier texture. It was a big Mother’s Day hit.
Thanks for such a wonderful recipe!
Rose, I never made out with one of these pies. But let’s just say I’m glad nobody had a video camera going when I was licking the fork afterward.
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.
Hi, I just discovered this recipe last week after signing up. After reading all of the comments I decided to use powered sugar so it would be smoother. I looked up the conversion from regular sugar and found I needed to add almost 2/3 cp. Also, because I didn’t have bitter sweet chips, I used all semi-sweet. To balance it out I added 2 extra TB of baking cocoa and an extra TB of butter to help balance the cocoa when it melted. It turned out wonderful! Not too sweet, very very chocolaty and very smooth. But, I did find small pieces of sugar in mine. But, when it thawed to room temp they seemed to go away. Maybe my powered sugar needed to be sifted better?? I also used a puff pastry crust (pre baked) because that’s what I had on hand. Not my best choice. Think I’ll go with the oreo suggestion next time! Thanks so much for this recipe. It was great and easy!!!
The puff pastry actually sounded like a really good idea. I’m surprised it didn’t work out.
The puff pastry turned chewy, not flaky and crisp. I’ve never frozen a puff pastry after it has been cooked. Maybe that was the reason? Also, when it baked I had to poke it and push it down a bit because it rose up and filled the whole pie plate. (Now I know why my mom had pie weights!)
Yeah, I guess it would, wouldn’t it. That’s what puff pastry is supposed do to: puff. They sort of put it in the name, didn’t they?
Oh this looks so yummy! I saved the recipe…hope to try it soon
So, this recipe looks DELICIOUS and I intend to make it, as is, this week. However, the idea of feeding uncooked eggs to children worries me, so I’m wondering if this pie could be baked instead of frozen? I’m assuming it would turn out like a rich, chocolately meringue, since that’s the basis of the recipe, and would probably have a totally different texture. Has anyone tried baking it? I thought I’d ask before experimenting.
I don’t worry about it:
Hi Drew! Can I just tell you how much I love this pie , it’s delicious. That said, every time I make it my chocolate mixture is runny
while yours looks more Solid. It still tastes great but I was wondering if you have any idea what I might be messing up.
Thanks!
Denise, at which step are thinking it’s too runny? Without knowing more, my best guess would be that you left it on the heat too long before mixing in the chocolate. You want it to just barely melt when you stir it in.
Thanks Drew, I am starting to realize maybe the chocolate is too runny because it’s too hot when I mix in the meringue
Thanks for the awesome recipes