Pie #7- Grandma’s French Silk Pie

I have two pies to blog this weekend so stay tuned!  This French Silk Pie shout out is two weeks late- whoops!

About 2 months ago I attempted this pie as a “Welcome to Memphis” for my inlaws.  Unfortunately, due to my struggle with blind baking it was down right inedible.  So, when the time came to celebrate my dear friend’s birthday, I thought it might be time to give it a second shot!  I have LOVED making my grandmothers’ pie recipes (I’ve made Gram’s Sweet Strawberry Pie 3 times in 3 weeks) and this one is no exception.  First of all, this is probably the fastest and easiest pie I’ve made, AND it’s absolutely delicious.  WARNING:  this pie uses raw eggs (because grandma’s don’t cook health food, am I right?) so proceed with caution… but I think it’s worth the risk!

On to the birthday girl… When I graduated from college I was told over and over again that it would be so hard to find friends in the grown-up world.  For the most part, that has been true and many of the friends that I have made have been a little out of the ordinary.  Speaking of out of the ordinary, meet Kathy McCoy:

Kathy (front and center doing the “Kathy hand”) is one of the beautiful front office ladies at work.  To give you some insight into this woman I’ll tell you that the photos I had to choose from included: Kathy picking out her tatoo, Kathy in a hula hoop, Kathy and a hot dog, and various pictures of Kathy with her “girls” aka the senior girls in our youth group.  Kathy is a youth volunteer extraordinaire and she has become one of my very dearest friends.  Kathy has taught me: to never hang up a phone call with Seth without saying I love you, how to pour into the lives of girls through notes and time, that not every woman over 55 has to wear pant suits, how to let things go (I’m still working on that one), how to be a loving and less-crazy wife, and many many other things.  She and Dewey are so special to Seth and me and we’re incredibly thankful for their friendship.

So, in honor of this dear woman’s 30th (cough, cough) birthday I made her and Dew an easy-breezy French Silk Pie:

Ingredients:

1/4 lb butter

3/4 C sugar

1 square melted bitter chocolate

1 tsp vanilla

2 chilled eggs

 

 
Directions:

With an electric beater (according to my grandma- in the 21st century you can read that as either stand or hand mixer :)), cream the butter with the sugar.  Add melted chocolate and vanilla.  Add the chilled eggs, one at a time, beating 2 minutes after each addition.  You may want to beat an additional 2 or 3 minutes to make sure your sugar is dissolved.  Nobody likes grainy pie!  Pour into a blind baked pie shell (because you’re a pro at those now!).  Chill at least one hour.  I garnished with mini chocolate chips and you can also top with whipped cream.

That’s it!  It’s that easy and that unhealthy.  Enjoy!

Coming up next… Peach Pie and a new crust recipe.

 

Pie #5- Chocolate Pudding Pie & Meringue

Get ready for a blog-a-palooza… Because:

1. I’m behind.

2. I’ve committed myself to make two pies for next Sunday… so it’s on.

Pie #5 was… a doozy… my precious hubby turned 25 nine days ago and he requested a birthday pie. He knows me so well 🙂  I had to nag a specific request out of him but he eventually landed on key lime pie or “Something chocolate.  And I want you to try meringue.”

So meringue it was.  I landed on a delicious chocolate-pudding pie with meringue.  But before I could even dream of pudding and whipped eggs, I had to make a pre-baked pie shell.  Easy enough, right?  WRONG.  I have a new archenemy, and his name is blind baking.  Maybe they call it blind baking because the odds are good that you’ll go blind with rage…

I went to my handy dandy butter crust recipe because it’s a) delicious and b) pretty easy and c) I had all the ingredients on hand.  I called the Master Baker (Mom.) and she advised me to roll out the crust, line it with foil, fill it with beans, and bake.  Now let me tell you, this was not my first rodeo.  A few weeks ago I made a pie-who-shall-not-be-named because it was so bad.  So. So. Bad.  The pre-baked shell could have doubled as a hubcap.  My precious father-in-law ate it like a champ and even complimented it.  But we all knew it was a fail.  So I KNEW I needed some help and Master Baker never lets me down.  So carefully following her directions, here’s what I got:

Perfect.  It’s not like I wanted a WHOLE pie shell anywho…  After a minor birthday-night meltdown complete with crust demolition… I tried again.  And attempt # 3?  Still ugly.  I only lost about 25% of that crust and most of it was on the upper edge so I counted my blessings and moved on.  We’ll meet again, blind baking…

I found this recipe for chocolate-pudding pie with meringue and its title sported a kindly Aunt as it’s source; family recipes are always the best, aren’t they?

My pudding stuck a little bit but besides that the recipe was really a piece of cake…er… pie.  My very first meringue attempt turned out BEAUTIFULLY and Seth ate no less that 80% of the pie; I’ll take that as a ringing endorsement.

Ingredients:

Blind-baked pie shell (I used Martha Stewart’s Butter Crust)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups whole milk
3 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.To prepare the pie filling, in a saucepan, combine 1 cup of the milk with the 1 cup of granulated sugar. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine  the remaining 1 cup of milk, the flour, and cocoa powder in a bowl and whisk thoroughly to combine. Set aside.

Heat the saucepan with the milk-sugar over medium-high heat until simmering. Slowly add the milk-flour mixture and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Add the egg yolks, whisking constantly, until it returns to a boil. Be SUPER careful, this will burn and stick in the blink of an eye. Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the vanilla and remove it from the heat.

Pour the mixture into the baked pie crust (or whatever’s left of it if you’re me). Set aside.

To make the meringue topping, place the egg whites in a non-reactive bowl (glass or stainless steel- google if you’re unsure!) with a pinch of salt. Add the cream of tartar and, using a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer, whisk on high speed until foamy. Sift over the confectioners’ sugar a little at a time and whisk until the whites are glossy and hold stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted.

To finish the pie, spoon the meringue over the pie, making sure it touches the edges of the pie crust. Bake until golden brown, 3-5 minutes or less. Move to rack to cool completely and set, then serve.