Chocolate French Silk Pie

If you're looking for a delicious and relatively easy pie for Thanksgiving, I've got you! This chocolate French silk filling is smooooooooth and rich at the same time, but not too sweet. 

And as much as I loved me a French silk pie from Baker's Square back in the day, there's just no competition. The pure chocolate flavor from this pie is simply unmatched! 

The best part is that the filling is super easy to throw together and is made up of only 7 ingredients, including water. And it slices like a dream.

So really the most "challenging" part of this pie is the pie crust. I used my go-to pie crust recipe, but feel free to buy a frozen crust and use that instead if you're short on time. The filling really is the star of the show here!

The only thing I'd change next time making this pie is to top the pie with a bit of whipped cream, and maybe some chocolate curls or shaved chocolate for a more polished look. My plastic wrap ended up touching the filling so it messed with my pretty swooshes. Plus it looked a bit nekked without anything on top, especially since it was so mesmerizing when mixing up the batter...

 

Yours in recreating childhood favorites,

Jacqueline

Chocolate French Silk Pie, from America's Test Kitchen

Note: The pie crust recipe below makes a single shell. But whenever I make this crust I always make a double batch and freeze the second shell. It takes the same amount of time to make 2 crusts so why not have an extra! So I highly recommend doubling the amounts below. Also, make sure to go to this post to see a lot of step-by-step photos of the pie dough making process!

Ingredients

Pie crust (single); go here for a double recipe

10 TBSP unsalted butter, chilled, divided

1 ¼ cups (6 ¼ ounces) all-purpose flour, divided

1 TBSP sugar

½ tsp table salt

¼ cup ice water, divided

French silk filling

1 cup heavy cream, chilled

3 large eggs

¾ cup (5 ¼ ounces) sugar

2 tablespoons water

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces and softened

optional topping: lightly sweetened whipped cream + chocolate shavings (or curls)

Directions

Make pie crust (up to 2 days in advance)

1. Grate 2 tablespoons butter on large holes of box grater and place in freezer. Cut remaining 8 tablespoons butter into 1/2-inch cubes. Also place a medium-sized bowl in the fridge at this time to chill it for later.
2. Pulse 3/4 cup flour (3.75 oz), sugar, and salt in food processor until combined, about 2 pulses. Add cubed butter and process until homogenous paste forms, about 30 seconds. Using your hands, carefully break paste into 2-inch chunks and redistribute evenly around processor blade. 
3. Add remaining 1/2 cup flour (2.5 oz) and pulse approximately 4 to 5 times, or until mixture is broken into pieces no larger than 1 inch (most pieces will be much smaller). Transfer mixture to your chilled bowl. 
4. Add grated butter and toss until butter pieces are separated and coated with flour. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons ice water over mixture. Toss with rubber spatula until mixture is evenly moistened. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons ice water over mixture and toss to combine. Press dough with spatula until dough sticks together. Transfer dough to sheet of plastic wrap. Draw edges of plastic over dough and press firmly on sides and top to form compact, fissure-free mass. Wrap in plastic and form into 5-inch disk. 
5. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Let chilled dough sit on counter to soften slightly, about 10 minutes, before rolling. (Wrapped dough can be frozen for up to 1 month. If frozen, let dough thaw completely on counter before rolling.)

Blind bake the pie shell

1. Roll dough into 12-inch circle on floured counter. Loosely roll dough around rolling pin and gently unroll it onto 9-inch pie plate, letting excess dough hang over edge. Ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with your hand while pressing into plate bottom with your other hand.
2. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch beyond lip of plate. (Make pie cookies with your leftover scraps!) Tuck overhang under itself; folded edge should be flush with edge of plate. Crimp dough evenly around edge of plate. Wrap dough-lined plate loosely in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Line chilled pie shell with aluminum foil, covering edges to prevent burning. Fill with pie weights/beans. (You can also use this unique blind-baking method from Serious Eats that uses sugar, which I love! I find that I still need to finish it without the sugar to get my crust golden brown though.) 
4. Bake on rimmed baking sheet until edges are set and just beginning to turn golden, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Remove foil and weights, rotate sheet, and continue to bake crust until golden brown and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Make sure you go more by visual cues than time. Your crust should not be pale at this point, because nobody likes a soggy bottom! Transfer sheet to wire rack and let cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Prepare the filling and assemble the pie

1. Using handheld mixer on medium-high speed, whip cream to stiff peaks, 2 to 3 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Combine eggs, sugar, and water in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch barely simmering water, making sure that water does not touch bottom of bowl. Using handheld mixer on medium speed, beat until egg mixture is thickened and registers 160 degrees, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until egg mixture is fluffy and cooled completely, about 8 minutes.
3. Add chocolate and vanilla to egg mixture and beat until incorporated. Beat in butter, few pieces at a time, until incorporated. Using rubber spatula, fold in refrigerated whipped cream until no white streaks remain. 
4. Transfer filling to cooled crust, smoothing top with spatula. Refrigerate, uncovered, until set, at least 3 hours. Serve