Chocolate Cream Pie

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 10 minutes
Filling: 30 minutes
Chill: 3 hours
Topping: 15 minutes (or less if you cheat!)

Grade: A+

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2001)

The first time I used this recipe was the first time I ever made a cream or pudding from scratch. I thought it was so fun to see the ingredients thicken up and was happy with how easy it was. I made this one several times after that, but it has been at least 4 years since the last one. Not because it isn't great - but because I have too many good dessert recipes and not enough time for dessert!

This is really rich and delicious, but not too rich. It does use Oreos for the crust, so I guess it is not 100% home-made, but the crust is quite good. I think I could have made the filling even quicker, if my electric stove heated up faster. It just took a while for the half-and-half to come to simmer, so I was waiting around a bit.

It is really fairly easy to make. I added the extra step of straining the filling, on top of the removing the chalazae on the eggs, because I wanted to make sure there were no lumps at all.

I did cheat with the cream, and used a Cabot canned version of whipped cream. I didn't want to have to mess around with whipping up the cream with a crowded kitchen and lots of kids underfoot.

I didn't even take the photo the day I served this. I froze the leftovers and added some new cream to the top (which is why you might notice the melted cream under the new cream.) The chocolate doesn't look creamy either because it was still frozen when I shot this, but it is very creamy when thawed. (The leftovers still tasted great.)