My friends and I hold a yearly Pi Night, and this year, with both kids gone, I had a sudden hankering to make a scrumptious pie, a fun pie.
I started out thinking, what's my favorite pie? That was easy :: cherry!
Now... how could I make it outstanding?
Could I somehow combine it with my second favorite pie, a lemon merengue? No, cherry and lemon wasn't the mix I wanted.
Key lime? Hmm, not that either.
Ooohhhh --- I love chocolate cream pie.
Bingo. Chocolate and cherry! That sounded so good.
So I started imagining how I'd like them to go together.
I wanted the flavor to be more concentrated than chocolate cream pie, and not like melted chocolate chips, either. More like a layer of chocolate bar - like an elegant, tender, freshly made chocolate layer.
So I started playing around.
The crust had to be a fabulous graham crust of course, because that's the crust my Mumma taught me at her knee, and it's fun, flavorful, and easy with great texture and mouthfeel. I wanted it thicker than usual, to give it more body.
I tested so many versions of chocolate layers, and here's my theory - it's deciding how much butter and cream (for softness) and how much cocoa butter (for rich cocoa flavor, also making it more solid). Too much butter/cream and the chocolate layer droozles down into the crust. But with too much cocoa butter, the refrigerated chocolate layer makes the finished pie so hard to cut, the whole pie shifts like an earthquake -- ask me how I know!
I think this is pretty much the perfect balance, where the chocolate layer is flavorful yet functionally "easy as pie" to cut. Let me know what you think!
Okay, so now you know my thinking as I created versions of the recipe ~ here's the (current) final version of
Blackout Pie
[You can watch me make it first, here, and play it again while you're making it for yourself ~ https://youtu.be/jlOUdkFW1ck]
You'll need ::
a 9" pie plate • gallon size ziplock bag • rolling pin • large non-metal mixing bowl • medium saucepan • small jar + lid • wooden mixing spoon • rubber spatula • quart Mason jar + lid
CRUST ::
14 graham crackers (14 doubles)
8 oz butter (1 stick, either salted or unsalted, as you prefer)
1/3 c sugar (white or brown, as you prefer)
CHOCOLATE LAYER ::
4 oz butter
1 handful cocoa butter discs (about 8)
2 heaping T cocoa powder (King Arthur black cocoa in the video)
1/2 c sugar
scant 1/2 c heavy cream
2 T vanilla
CHERRIES ::
5 c frozen bing cherries
3/4 c dark or light brown sugar
2 T vanilla
2 heaping T cornstarch
1/4 c cold water
WHIPPED CREAM (optional) ::
1 pint whipping cream
1/4 c maple syrup
2 T vanilla extract
CRUST ::
Put the 12 graham crackers into the ziplok bag, squeeze out air, and seal. Roll the rolling pin over the crackers until they're quite fine.
Put butter in non-metal mixing bowl (Pyrex is best) and microwave to melt. All microwaves are different, but two 30-second bursts should do it.
Pour crumbs into melted butter, add sugar, stir well until crumbs have absorbed the butter. Pour crumbs into pie shell and spread evenly along bottom and up sides.
*** Helpful trick :: if you have a slightly smaller pie plate that fits this way, push it down onto the crumbs and use it to smoosh the crumbs into shape. Pressure on that smaller plate can help form the crust into a firm and steady crust that will hold well, better than pressure with your individual fingers.
Bake at 350˚ F for about 5-6 minutes, let cool down at room temp, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, uncovered
CHOCOLATE LAYER ::
Put butter and cocoa butter in medium to large non-metal mixing bowl.
Warm in microwave just to melting, in a few 15-second intervals, swirling gently after each one.
Remove and add cocoa powder, sugar, and vanilla. This King Arthur Flour black cocoa makes for a very dramatic and intensely flavored chocolate layer. Make it light cocoa powder if you prefer a lighter brown.
Mix, stirring until all is smooth. If you can still see the sugar granules, pop it back in the microwave for another 30-60 seconds.
Add in the cream, stir until blended.
Let cool on counter to room temperature (maybe 10-30 minutes, depending on how hot you got it in the microwave).
Pull crust from refrigerator and pour chocolate layer onto center of crust. Spread out level to the bottom of the side edges, leaving a flat round disc of chocolate on the whole crust bottom.
Refrigerate for an hour, up to overnight.
CHERRIES ::
Measure out the cherries into the saucepan over low to medium heat. Bring to a low simmer. Add the brown sugar and vanilla and stir frequently.
Meanwhile, you want to thoroughly mix cornstarch and cold water in a shaker.
After the cherries have simmered about 10 minutes and are heated through thoroughly, add the cornstarch mixture a little at a time, stirring well. Pull the pot off the heat, still stirring gently. It should be thickening by now, and it will thicken more as it cools. (overheating it will thin the mixture again)
* I adjusted the cornstarch down from 3 heaping T to 2 heaping T - the larger amount of cornstarch caused the cherry filling to "crack" after refrigeration (see the pics), and with less we still get a thickened pie, without cracking *
Let it cool on the counter until it's close to room temperature. Refrigerate if on a tight timeline, by pouring mixture into a small metal bowl and setting that bowl into a slightly larger bowl that's got a dozen ice cubes in it. Just make sure the ice/water doesn't spill over into your cherry mixture. The stainless steel will help transmit the cooling quicker. Put that whole thing in your fridge til cooled down.
Once cooled, pour into the pie, on top of the chocolate layer. Fill as high as you can, right to the top of the pie crust. Spread or gently shimmy until filling is level.
Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve, at least an hour, up to overnight.
WHIPPED CREAM (optional) ::
Pour cream, maple syrup, and vanilla into a Mason jar and put the lid on. Shake vigorously for 5-10 minutes, until the cream thickens to the way you like it.
When ready to serve, cut pie and spoon whipped cream onto each piece. Enjoy!
