Chocolate Pie

As promised, here is my recipe for my Thanksgiving chocolate pie. I am mighty thankful that this pie turned out well considering I did not follow a recipe. The chocolate pie is decadent and the filling is a little dense, but I actually liked the texture. The pie crust is special because it has cocoa powder and brown sugar in it.

Pie Crust

1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (and a little extra for rolling)
8 tbsp (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 to 5 tbsp ice-cold water
1/8 cup cocoa powder
1/8 cup brown sugar

Filling
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate
5 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk

Directions

Pie Crust

You have to make the pie dough at least 2 hours ahead of time because you need to chill the pie dough in the fridge before you roll it.

1) Cut the chilled butter into 1/2 inch cubes.

2) In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse to mix, and then add butter. Pulse some more, roughly 8 times until the butter in the mixture is pea-sized. Add 1 tablespoon of the ice-cold water at a time, and continue to pulse until the mixture starts to hold together. If you pinch the mixture, it should hold together. If not, continue adding water.

3) Take the dough out of the food processor and place it on a cutting board (or another flat surface). Shape the dough into a ball (Make sure not to over-knead the dough).

4) Flatten the dough into a disc, sprinkle a little flour on the top and bottom of the disc, place the disc in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

5) Take the dough out of the refrigerator, and let it sit for 10 minutes at room temperature. Sprinkle the cocoa powder and brown sugar on a flat surface and roll the ball of dough in the cocoa powder and sugar mixture. I kneaded my dough a little to incorporate the cocoa and sugar, but I didn’t worry about distributing them evenly. The dough still came out delicious and had a nice swirl pattern.

6) Sprinkle flour on the same surface and roll out the dough into a circle with a 12 inch circumference. Carefully fold the dough in half and place into a 9 inch pie dish. Using a fork, pierce holes in the pie dough.

7) Bake the pie dough in a 350 degree oven for roughly 10 minutes.

Filling

1) In a saucepan, melt the chocolate with milk and stir often to avoid the mixture from burning. You can also use a double boiler to avoid adding milk to the chocolate.

2) In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until they become soft peaks. Add the sugar to the eggs and mix until the whites form stiff peaks.

3) Fold about a third of the egg whites into the chocolate to lighten the chocolate mixture and then fold in the remaining whites.

4) Add the filling to the pie crust which has baked for 10 minutes.

5) Place pie in the 350 degree oven and bake for roughly 30 minutes.
WARNING: temperature may vary based on your oven, so keep an eye on your pie while it is baking.

6) I like to check my pie after it has baked for 15 minutes. I stick a toothpick in the center of the pie. When the toothpick comes out clean, the pie is ready.

Enjoy!