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French Silk Pie | ZoeBakes Photo by Zoë François
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French Silk Pie

This pie from Shauna Sever's book, Midwest Made, is all about the deep chocolate flavor. Be sure to use a high quality, bitter chocolate (70-75% cacao) or the pie can get very sweet, FAST! In her book the pie is topped with a homemade Cool Whip, which is 100% in keeping with the traditional pie. I left the cream unstabilized and unsweetened, because I like the contrast of the sweet filling to the clean, rich cream on top, you choose which way to go.
Course: Dessert
Author: from Shauna Sever's Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 single layer pie dough (see note) RECIPE HERE
  • 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, cool room temperature
  • 1 cup (200g) sugar
  • 1 tbsp unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 3 3/4 oz (107g) bittersweet chocolate (70-75% cacao) Semisweet chocolate will be way too sweet!
  • 3 large eggs COLD! - these are raw, so used pasteurized if this makes you nervous

Topping

  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • Chocolate Shavings for sprinkling over the top

Instructions

  • Prepare the dough and blind bake the crust in a 9-inch, shallow pie dish.

Filling

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the melted chocolate and beat until blended. Add the cold eggs, one at a time and beat for about 5 MINUTES AFTER EACH EGG.
  • Spoon the filling into the prepared blind baked pie shell.
  • Whip the cream on medium speed, just to soft peaks. If you over whip the cream, it will not pipe smoothly. Whipping it slow and low, will create a cream that will hold up for hours, if not days.
  • Cover with whipped cream. You can pile it on in a cloud or pipe it in ruffles, as I did with a large rose tip (Ateco 180 - Large Flower Petal Decorating Tip).
  • Chill the pie for at least an hour and serve. The filling will tighten up as it chills, so the texture is just about perfect for the first several hours and then it becomes denser and loses a bit of the silkiness, but is still delicious.
  • To make the chocolate shavings, scrape a bar (I use the large chocolate bars at Trader Joe's) with a sharp knife.

Notes

Prepare the dough and blind bake the crust in a 9-inch, shallow pie dish. Learn more about pie dough in my guide to pie crust.
If you prefer, here is Shauna's Homemade Cool Whip!