Friday, January 23, 2009

Chocolate Pie


My fellow American Bakers, in this week where we celebrate both the peaceful transfer of power that is key to our political process AND National Pie Day, I am overcome with renewed feelings of hope and patriotism. And, as we know, nothing is more American than apple pie. But I made chocolate.

And this, my friends, is what I meant to make all along. Simple. Not heavy. Creamy. I used Alton Brown's Chocolate Pudding recipe. He starts with a recipe for a homemade Instant Pudding mix that keeps for a month.


So easy. And the pudding recipe itself--also easy. More stovetop whisking for me, but not so bad this time.


Doing everything in my power to avoid the dreaded crust shrinks--this time I try getting fancy with fluting the edges.


But then the cooking part happens and the fancy sort of melts into unformed blobbiness. How do the pros do it anyway!??


And a new development (yes, I realize I cooked it a little too long)--uneven coloration and speckles. Hmmmm. Very interesting. Perhaps the temperature in my oven is uneven. My oven is uneven. Say that three times fast. Ah well, not for long. Soon, I may be moving into a house with no oven at all.

But that's neither here nor there. Back to chocolate. Don't forget to lay plastic wrap right onto the surface of the pudding so it doesn't get a skin.


Top with whipped cream and mini chocolate chips (what else?!).


It was perfect for me. Not for everyone though. We're having a slumber party here tonight and Seconda's Best Cousin very politely offered this critique: "Actually, it's a little gross for me." And there was crust left on everyone's plate. Except mine. Even overcooked (or burnt, it's all in the phraseology), I'll still eat pie crust.


The other half of the dough. Going in the refrigerator (not the freezer--never again) for another chocolate pie on Sunday. Hopefully this time I'll do better with the cooking of the crust.

TGIP Rating--Chocolate Pie--KEEPER

Next up: A surprise even to me. I'm not doing any baking this next week (so I've been told), so I've asked Pie Queen to try something--anything, and write a Guest Blog. Whatever it turns out to be, you can be sure I will taste and report.

1 comment:

Bruce Almighty said...

(insert smart ass comment about "chocolate" president)