Inspired by a recent New York Times article...
Chocolate Cream Pie
Nicole Spiridakis, Flourless
Ingredients
Hazelnut-Cocoa Crust:
- 2 1/2 cups whole hazelnuts
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2/3 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 3 cups whole milk
- 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Coconut Milk Whipped Cream or regular whipped cream for topping
Crust:
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Have a 9-inch pie pan ready. To make the crust: Place the hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast in the oven until the nuts are lightly browned and release a nutty fragrance, about 15 minutes. Remove the hazelnuts from the oven and set aside to cool. When nuts are completely cooled, use your hands to rub off as many of the skins as you can. Don't worry if you can't remove all of the skin; a little bit is OK.
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, process the hazelnuts, sugar, and cocoa powder until fine. Place in a bowl and add the melted butter, stirring to combine. Press the mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan. Bake the crust until slightly crisp, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
- In a medium, heavy saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks until well combined, then add the milk in a steady stream, whisking continuously. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking, then decrease the heat and simmer, whisking, for 1 minute more (the filling will be thick).
- Force the filling through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, then whisk in the chocolate, butter, and vanilla. Cover the surface of the filling with a buttered round of waxed paper and cool completely, about 2 hours.
Use a serrated knife to cut the pie into slices and use a cake server to gently place the slices on plates to serve. Note that the crust will be a little crumbly, so go easy.
Frozen...sounds good.
Frozen Maple Mousse Pie with Chocolate-Maple Sauce
Florence Fabricant
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups fine chocolate cookie crumbs
- 1 cup maple sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 cup pure maple syrup, preferably Grade B
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix crumbs with 1/4 cup maple sugar, the salt and the butter. Press into bottom and sides of a 10-inch pie plate. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Bake chilled crust 10 minutes, cool to room temperature, then place in freezer.
- Beat egg whites until frothy. Place all but a tablespoon of remaining maple sugar in a saucepan, add 1/4 cup water, bring to a boil and cook until mixture is 237 degrees on a candy thermometer. Continue beating egg whites until softly peaked. Then, beating all the while, drizzle in all the maple sugar mixture and beat until egg whites are firm and glossy. Beat in 4 tablespoons maple syrup. Refrigerate.
- Whip cream until stiff. Fold into egg white mixture. Refrigerate separately until cookie crust is cold. Spoon mousse in prepared cookie crust, smooth top and freeze 4 hours. When frozen, cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve.
- Melt chocolate on low heat. Whisk in remaining maple syrup and vanilla. Place in a container, cover and refrigerate.
- Do not thaw pie for serving. Dust top with remaining tablespoon maple sugar and serve. Spoon some chocolate sauce over each portion.
Since I'm in Cape Cod, let's go for the obvious...
Boston Cream Pie
Saveur
Ingredients
Cake:
- 12 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
- 1 1⁄2 cups flour, plus more for pan
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 2⁄3 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1⁄4 cup cornstarch
- 1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1⁄2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and reserved
- 6 eggs yolks
- 1 1⁄2 cups milk
- 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 4 oz. 60-percent bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1⁄2 cup heavy cream
- Make the cake: Heat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 9″ round cake pan; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside. In another bowl, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed of a hand mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each, until smooth. Alternately add dry ingredients and buttermilk in 3 batches, beginning and ending with dry ingredients; beat until just combined. Pour into pan; smooth top with a rubber spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes, and then invert onto a wire rack; let cool completely.
- Make the filling: Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and vanilla seeds in a 4-qt. saucepan; add yolks, and whisk until smooth. Stir in milk, and place pan over medium heat; cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and add butter one cube at a time, whisking until smooth; stir in vanilla extract. Transfer pudding to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap; chill until firmed, at least 2 hours.
- Make the glaze and assemble cake: Place chocolate in a bowl. Bring cream to a boil in a 1-qt. saucepan over high heat; pour over chocolate and let sit for 1 minute. Slowly stir chocolate and cream until smooth and shiny; set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, split cake horizontally into two layers so that the top layer is slightly smaller than the bottom. Spread chilled pudding over cut side of bottom layer and cover with top layer; pour chocolate glaze evenly over cake, letting it drip down the side of the cake. Refrigerate cake until glaze is set, at least 30 minutes. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Happy baking! (Stay cool)
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