Description
It’s time to kick it up a notch and make a homemade chocolate cream pie with graham cracker crust and awesome whipped cream.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the graham cracker crust:
- 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 11 graham crackers)
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup melted butter (6 tablespoons)
For the filling:
- 5 egg yolks, gently whisked
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
- 1 cup white, granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons corn starch, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons soft butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional topping:
- 2 tablespoons of shaved chocolate from a chocolate bar (I used Ghirardelli for this too)
NOTE: I used a 9-inch pie plate for this, but 10-inch works too.
Instructions
- Take out some butter to soften at the beginning of the process. You’ll need three softened tablespoons for later.
- Start by making the graham cracker crust. Break up graham crackers into pieces and put in a mini food processor. Grind until they turn into somewhat fine crumbs. Transfer to a mixing bowl. If you don’t have a food processor, put broken graham pieces in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush into crumbs.
- Add sugar to the graham cracker crumbs bowl and whisk together. Add melted butter and mix again until all the crumbs are coated in butter and adhere together slightly when you press on them. Transfer to a 9 or 10-inch pie plate. Press down gently to distribute evenly across the bottom with a slight slope up the sides – maybe ¼ inch – more if you want. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Take out and let cool completely.
- Separate five egg yolks. Eggs should be room temperature. You’ll need two small dishes for this. One for the egg whites and one for the yolks. Crack the egg in half and transfer the egg yolk from one shell to the other while the egg white falls into one dish. Once all the white part is gone, put the egg yolk in the other dish. Repeat the process with all the eggs. Save the egg whites for something else like an omelet.
- Gently whisk the egg yolks together until they are well blended. Don’t beat them like scrambled eggs. Just stir gently. Set aside.
- Melt 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate in the microwave. I used a 4-ounce bar of Ghirardelli chocolate broken up in pieces in a small bowl. Microwave it in 20-30 second increments, taking it out after each 20-30 seconds to stir as it melts. It should take about 1 minute and 45 seconds total. The goal is for the chocolate to be smooth and completely melted.
- Pour the milk in a pot and have the other ingredients ready: sugar, egg yolks, salt, corn starch, softened butter, vanilla extract, and the melted chocolate.
- Start heating the milk on low-to-medium heat for a few minutes on its own to get it slightly warm. Add the sugar, sifted corn starch – keep whisking/stirring to incorporate the corn starch and sugar. Add the egg yolks (scrape the bowl to get it all), keep stirring. Let it heat a few minutes more – stirring occasionally and bringing only to barely a simmer. You don’t want this to boil. Add the vanilla, whisk in the soft butter and melted chocolate (scrape the bowl for all chocolate) – you’ll see in the cooking process your mixture will start to thicken. Stir until the chocolate is fully incorporated. Scrape down sides of pot with spatula. One final mix and filling should be thickened. Whole process should take about 12 minutes in the pot.
- Remove from heat and let it cool about 30 minutes.
- Once chocolate filling is cooled, pour all of it on top of the cooled graham cracker crust.
- Cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge overnight to set and chill. If you make it in the morning, it will probably be ready for evening consumption.
- Next day right before serving make the whipped cream. Put heavy cream in a mixing bowl and add sugar. Using a hand blender, beat the mixture for about 5-7 minutes going from medium to high speed. That’s it. Mix until it looks like whipped cream. Very simple.
- For the chocolate shavings topping: chill a chocolate bar and slice thin with a knife. My video shows this well. I used a Ghirardelli chocolate bar, but you can use what you like.
- Spread the whipped cream across the top of the pie and sprinkle chocolate shavings on top of that. Don’t put the whipped cream on top until right before serving.
- Cutting tip: use a sharp knife and dip in warm water between cuts. Make sure you cut all the way through the graham cracker crust before removing your slice. First slice is always the hardest to remove. I have a little, mini spatula I use for this. If you don’t have that, go with a sharp knife to cut and a butter knife to assist with removing the first slice.
