Chocolate Cream Pie

Ingredients - Crust

12 Chocolate graham cracker sheets, crushed

1 stick of butter, melted

2 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. brown sugar (packed)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method - Crust

 Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a medium sized bowl combine the crumbs, cinnamon and sugars. Add the butter. Use a fork to combine the ingredients well.

Put the crumb mixture into a pie plate and firmly pack the crumbs on the bottom and up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.



Chocolate Pie Filling - Ingredients

 Adapted from "Tastes better from Scratch"

2 1/2 cups milk

1/3 cup sugar

6 large egg yolks

3 tbsp. cornstarch

6 tbsp. butter, diced into small pieces

8 oz. Ghirardelli's semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Pie Filling - Method

Place the egg yolks and the cornstarch in a bowl and whisk until smooth.

Place the milk and sugar in a medium saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the milk is simmering.

To temper the egg yolks add about a half ladle of the hot milk to the yolks while whisking. Do this twice more. Now that the yolks are tempered add them to the remaining hot milk in the saucepan.

Over medium low heat whisk the mixture until it begins to thicken. The mixture will begin to boil gently. Remove from the heat when large bubbles break the surface.

Whisk in the butter, chopped chocolate and vanilla. Whisk until completely smooth.

Pour the filling into the crust and smooth the surface. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the filling.

 Refrigerate 5 - 6 hours.

Ingredients - White Chocolate Cream Topping

1 cup chilled heavy cream, divided

1 cup Ghirardelli's white chocolate chips

Method - White Chocolate Cream

Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Add 1/2 cup cream. Microwave at 50% power for 60 seconds. Stir well. Heat at 50% power for 20 second intervals until the chocolate is completely melted. Cool to room temperature.

Beat the remaining cream until soft peaks form. Add the white chocolate mixture and beat until the chocolate is fully incorporated.

Spread over the chocolate pie and decorate as desired.

Buon Appetito!