Desserts
Chocolate French Silk Pie
French Silk Pie is in a class by itself. Not a cream pie and not a mousse pie, it’s perhaps one of the richest, silkiest, most chocolatey desserts on the planet — it literally melts in your mouth.
Maybe you’ve never heard of French Silk Pie, or it’s only available at your local pie shop. Either way, this all-American pie, made popular in 1951 as the winner of a bake-off contest, is rarely made at home. People just assume it’s out of their reach, but it’s not. With a lot of whipping, and a little patience, this pie is simple enough to make right in your own kitchen, and this recipe proves it’s worth the effort.
Ingredients
FOR THE CRUST, REMOVE:
FOR THE FILLING, COMBINE:
SPRINKLE:
WHIP:
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°.
For the crust, remove parchment and beans, then bake crust on lowest rack until golden, 15–18 minutes more. (Shield the edge of the crust with foil if it starts to get too brown.) Let crust cool completely before filling.
For the filling, combine eggs, ⅔ cup sugar, and water in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Don’t let the bowl touch the water.
Whip egg mixture with a hand mixer on medium speed, until eggs double in volume and a thermometer inserted registers 160°, 10–12 minutes. Remove bowl from heat.
Sprinkle chocolate into egg mixture a handful at a time, with the mixer running, until it all has been added. (The mixture will deflate and lose volume.) Once chocolate melts, continue beating until mixture is no longer warm to the touch, 7–10 minutes.
Beat butter into chocolate mixture a few cubes at a time. Once butter is incorporated, the mixture will be thick; beat in the salt and set aside.
Whip cream, 2 Tbsp. sugar, and vanilla in a bowl with a hand mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks form, 2 minutes.
Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture in three additions, folding until ingredients are combined. Transfer filling to pie crust. Cover pie and refrigerate 3 to 24 hours. Let pie stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving.
If the cooked eggs aren’t warm enough to melt the chocolate, beat mixture over simmering water.
Add the butter a few cubes at a time, beating mixture well to avoid chunks in the filling.
To give the filling a mousse-like texture, gently fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.