Chef notes
A chocolate crust makes this creamy and rich pie ultra chocolatey.
Technique tip: To make chocolate curls, use a vegetable peeler to scrape chocolate from your favorite chocolate bar (milk or bittersweet chocolate, without nuts or filling). Make sure the chocolate is at room temperature and not too cold. To make homemade chocolate “sprinkles” grate the chocolate with a coarse cheese grater.
Swap option: Swap out white chocolate curls for the regular chocolate curls; swap out a premade chocolate or regular graham cracker crust instead of making your own.
Ingredients
- 1⅔ cups chocolate cookie crumbs, such as Famous Chocolate Wafers or chocolate graham crackers
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 cups whole milk
- 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate (between 60% and 64%), finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Chocolate curls or sprinkles, for garnish
Preparation
1.Heat the oven to 350° F.
2.To prepare the crust, in a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs, butter, sugar, and salt until they form a moist, crumbly mixture. Press the mixture evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake until the crust is fragrant and firm, 7 to 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3.To prepare the filling, in a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, cocoa and salt. Add egg and egg yolks and 1/2 cup milk and whisk thoroughly to combine.
4.In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the remaining 1½ cups milk to a boil. Remove from the heat. Whisking constantly, very slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture. Keep whisking so that you don’t scramble the eggs. Return the entire mixture to the pan. Cook, over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens, about 3 to 5 minutes.
5.Remove pan from the heat; add chocolate and let sit for a minute to melt. Add butter and vanilla, whisking until smooth.
6.Pour filling into cooled pie crust and smooth surface with a small spatula. Cover the surface entirely with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Make sure the plastic wrap is resting against the filling.
7.Place the pie in the fridge until thoroughly chilled and set, about 4 hours.
8.When ready to serve, prepare the topping. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip cream, sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until medium peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over the surface of the pie. Sprinkle all over with chocolate curls or sprinkles and serve.
