Chocolate Cream Pie

I found this recipe on the web at cabcooks.com about a year ago and am soooo thankful I did!!! This chocolate cream pie is easy to make, really thick, rich and creamy!!!! I've made this pie many times and every time it gets great reviews that start with the first bite - "Mmmmm this is good!" Each slice holds together instead of oozing out all over the plate - this recipe is a total keeper!!! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 pie crust for a 9″ pie pan
1 1/2 C sugar
1/3 C cornstarch
2 1-oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1 C milk
2 C heavy cream
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 Tsp real vanilla extract
Sweeten whipped cream

Line a 9″ pie pan with crust. Finish the edges as desired. Bake pie shell as directed by recipe or package. Cool on rack until needed.

In a saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt. Blend the milk and egg yolks. I used a whisk to incorporate the two ingredients. Stir egg mixture slowly into the dry ingredients, making sure to combine everything together. Whisk in melted chocolate.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and begins to boil. Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the saucepan to avoid any browning or burning of the cream. It took about 12 minutes before I saw signs of thickening. Don’t walk away at this point and stir, stir, stir. Don’t be alarmed if you start to see clumps of thickening cream on the spoon/spatula. The rest of the cream will thicken completely a few minutes later. Once the cream thickens and starts to bubble/boil, continue to cook for one more minute, always stirring! Remove from heat and mix in vanilla extract. Immediately fill pie crust. Press plastic wrap onto the filling to prevent crust from developing on top of the filling.

Chill pie for at least 2 hours. I took out the pie about an hour before serving and scooped large dollops of sweetened whipped cream on top. Here’s a picture of it after chilling in the fridge for 2 hours.

This tasted like a very rich and creamy chocolate pudding. The filling looks very dense but had a surprising lightness to it. I don’t know if it’s because I used a whisk the last minute of cooking and to incorporate the vanilla. But if you like chocolate pudding, you'll love this!