A dazzling chocolate pudding pie cloaked in voluminous whipped cream.
— Bon Appetit
I came across this pie recipe before Thanksgiving and immediately knew I had to make it for my Friendsgiving. I am not a big fan of the traditional pie recipes that Thanksgiving offers (pumpkin and pecan), and I am a huge fan of chocolate. Big win with this recipe. It was absolutely delicious.
How did making this recipe go? Well, I followed it to a T (mostly), because I needed this to go right if at all possible, and it was delicious (the first pie to disappear)!
I started the recipe with a store bought pie dough that was hanging out in my fridge. I placed it in a pie dish, and stuck it in the oven to blind bake for 25 minutes and completely skipped the pie crust part of the recipe. AND IT FAILED!
Why?
- I didn’t place a sheet of parchment paper on top with pie weights. This caused the pie dough to shrink drastically and the pie crust only reached 1/2 up the pie dish.
- I poked holes in the dough with a fork and it became EXTREMELY dry and snapped when broken vs the flaky crust people expect when eating a pie.
- I also should not have used a store bought pie crust that was two months old. (Whoops!)
SO, I restarted by making the pie dough in a food processor. The recipe didn’t say I should, but I’ve made 100’s of pie crusts in my life, and almost 99% were made in a food processor. I then set up the pie crust in a pie dish, placed down the parchment and pie weights as the recipe requested. I used dried beans for pie weights. I skipped poking the dough with a fork. The result? The pie dough didn’t shrink as much as I thought it would (based on the first crust of the day), so the dough didn’t have the thick scrunched edges. It was mostly flat in the overhang of the crust.
While the pie crust was baking, I started on the filling. I followed the instructions to a T, especially since my first part of this creation had already failed. It came out perfectly! The pudding came out exactly as the image displayed.
For the whipped cream portion of the pie, I decided to skip the direction and go directly to making my own based off of the method I know is tried and true – heavy cream in a stand mixer. But, I didn’t add enough sugar and forgot the vanilla. It was a very bland cream top, but it worked out! The pudding was so sweet that a very sweet whipped cream would have been an overwhelming amount of sugar. I also skipped dusting cocoa powder and went for scattering cocoa nibs across the top instead. Why? Because I like the crunch the nibs add to the silky smooth texture of the pudding and cream.
Overall, this recipe was a success, but I still failed in the process. I love baking!
Bon Appetit’s Chocolate Pudding Pie Recipe
INGREDIENTS
Crust
- 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
- 2 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 tsp. Morton kosher salt
- 2⅔ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1½ cups (3 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½” pieces
Filling
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process
- 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2½ cups whole milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Assembly
- 1 tsp. unflavored powdered gelatin
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 Tbsp. sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- Unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process (for serving; optional)
RECIPE PREPARATION
Crust
- Whisk sugar, salt, and 2⅔ cups flour in a large bowl. Add butter and, using your fingers, smash each piece into a thin disk. Take your time doing this and don’t feel compelled to break butter into even smaller pieces. Drizzle ⅔ cup ice water over, dispersing it as widely as possible, and mix with a rubber spatula to bring mixture together into a shaggy mass.
- Turn dough out onto a surface and work together with your hands, pushing and flattening until dough holds together when squeezed in your palm but some streaks of dry flour are still visible. Divide dough into 2 portions.
- Flatten 1 portion of dough into an 8″-diameter disk. Cut into quarters, stack pieces on top of one another, and flatten dough with a rolling pin to about half of its original height. At this point dough should hold together with no dry spots remaining, and have nice big flakes of butter showing. Use a bench scraper or a large knife to clean any clingy bits of dough from surface. Dust surface with flour, then dust top of dough with flour. Roll out to a ¼”–⅜”-thick round. Wrap dough around rolling pin and transfer to a standard 9″-diameter pie dish. Unfurl into dish, then lift edges and allow dough to slump down into dish. Trim overhang to an even 1″ (there will be some excess). Fold overhang under and crimp as desired. Cover and chill until very cold, at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours (cover tightly if chilling longer than 1 hour). Repeat process with remaining dough and another pie dish. Or form into a 1½”-thick disk, wrap in plastic, and chill up to 3 days (or freeze up to 1 month).
- Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat oven to 400°. Lay 2 sheets of parchment paper over dough and fill with pie weights or dried beans (they should fill the dish). Set on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet (this will keep any butter drips from smoking up your oven). Bake until edges are golden brown and bottom is opaque (carefully lift parchment to check), 30–35 minutes. Remove from oven; reduce oven temperature to 300°. Lift out parchment and weights. Bake crust until evenly chestnut brown all over, 10–15 minutes. If baking both crusts, turn oven dial back up to 400° and let oven preheat; repeat with remaining crust.
Filling
- Whisk sugar, cocoa powder, and cornstarch in a large saucepan to combine. Add eggs and egg yolks and whisk vigorously, making sure to get into corners of pan, until smooth. Whisk in milk, vanilla, and salt.
- Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, whisking often and making sure to get into corners of pan, 8–10 minutes (mixture should be bubbling and thickened). Reduce heat and continue to simmer, whisking constantly, 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let pudding cool 5 minutes, whisking several revolutions every minute to prevent any skin from forming.
- Add chocolate to pudding and whisk until melted and fully incorporated. Scrape filling into pie crust; smooth surface. Chill until cold and set, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
Assembly
- Stir gelatin and 1 Tbsp. water in a small bowl. Let sit until solidified, about 5 minutes. Microwave in 5-second intervals until melted, or set in a bowl of very hot water and let sit until melted.
- Using an electric mixer, beat cream, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Add melted gelatin and beat until medium peaks form. Spoon whipped cream over filling, swirling as desired. Chill until set, about 1 hour. Dust with cocoa powder if desired.
- Do Ahead: Pie can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled.
Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!
Trial & Eggs 