heavy cream | A Flair for Fare

This is a recipe I ripped out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine almost 20 years ago. I’ve made it year after year, during the holidays or any occasion I wanted an especially impressive dessert to serve and it never disappoints. If you want to walk away with rave reviews, you’ll want to give this sweet treat a try. Creamy, dreamy, silky chocolate pie. Not a pudding pie, mind you. This is french silk. Thick, rich, decadent. Topped with freshly made whipped cream, it’s all you’ve ever wanted, and more.

Chocolate Silk Pie

(adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, November, 1995)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 – 6 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

3 tablespoons Godiva chocolate liqueur

1- 8 or 9 inch pastry pie shell

Additional whipping cream for topping

Prepare your pie crust. Bake and set aside to cool.

Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream, chocolate chips, sugar and butter to a heavy bottomed 2 quart saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted and all ingredients are combined.

In a small bowl, beat egg yolks. Remove saucepan from heat. Add about 1/4 cup of the chocolate mixture to the beaten eggs to temper* (see note). Return egg mixture to saucepan over medium low heat. Bring to a low simmer, stirring constantly. Mixture with thicken slightly and start to bubble, 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in the chocolate liqueur. If you prefer not to use liqueur, stir in an additional 3 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream.

Prepare a large bowl of ice and cold water large enough to hold the saucepan. Place saucepan in ice water, adding additional ice as needed. Stir occasionally as mixture cools and stiffens. This will take about 20 minutes. Remove saucepan from ice water and beat on high speed with an electric hand mixer for 2-3 minutes. Filling will become light and fluffy.

Spread filling evenly in pie shell, cover and chill at least 5 hours or overnight. Decorate with freshly whipped cream and mini chocolate chips and chill for another hour before serving.

For the whipped cream topping:

Pour 1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. (for best results, chill the bowl and the beater before using). Add 1 tablespoon sugar. Start on low and gradually increase speed to medium high. (8 on a KitchenAid stand mixer) The cream will start to thicken and soft peaks will form. Continue until the cream stands in stiff, sharp peaks. This only takes a few minutes; watch the cream closely and do not over whip or you might end up with butter. Add whipped cream to a piping bag with decorative tip and pipe decorative swirls onto the pie as you wish. I used a large Wilton tip. If you don’t want to pipe the cream and prefer just to cover the top of the pie with it, increase the amount of cream to 1 and 1/2 cups and add another tablespoon of sugar. For best results, do not use ultra-pasteurized whipping cream.

*About tempering: You need to bring the eggs up to a high temperature without cooking them. Take your hot chocolate mixture and add a small amount into the beaten eggs and whisk. Slowly adding the hot mixture to the eggs prevents the eggs from being scrambled.

Summertime is Key Lime pie time. Don’t get me wrong, I can eat this delicious, tart concoction any time of year, but there is just something so right about this cool and creamy dessert and warm weather. It’s a match made in heaven, and this super easy recipe makes it that much better. Key limes are not required; any lime will do. But please- take the time to make real fresh whipping cream. Cool whip is just not allowed.

Key Lime Pie

Prepare a 9 inch graham cracker crumb crust:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

You’ll need;

1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter melted. Mix all ingredients until well blended.

Press firmly onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely.

For the filling, you will need:

3 egg yolks

1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup fresh key lime or regular lime juice

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks with condensed milk and lime juice. Pour into prepared graham cracker crust and bake 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature, cover and move to refrigerator to chill.

For topping you will need:

1 to 1 and 1/2 cups heavy cream.

2 tablespoons granulated or powdered sugar.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

To make the whipped topping, chill mixing bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for 1 hour. You can use a hand mixer or stand mixer. You’ll need 1 to 1- 1/2 cups very cold heavy cream. 1 cup makes about 2 cups whipped cream. If piping the topping I suggest you increase to 1 and 1/2 cups. Avoid ultra pasteurized cream, it is harder to whip and doesn’t hold it’s shape for very long. Pour cream into chilled mixing bowl. Add sugar and vanilla extract. Start out a slow speed and gradually increase to high as the cream thickens. Slow down when soft peaks form; this will happen quickly- do not over beat or it will lose volume and become butter. Pipe or spread over chilled pie and garnish as desired.

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Tag Archives: heavy cream

Chocolate Silk Pie

Key Lime Pie