Double-Chocolate Cream Pie

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups chocolate wafer crumbs (from about 30 wafers, such as Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter melted 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
7 ounces semisweet chocolate finely chopped
3 tablespoons cold butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate curls (See tip at bottom)



Directions:

Makes: 8 - 10 servings

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

To make the crust: In a medium bowl, combine the cookie crumbs, melted butter, and sugar until they form an evenly moist, crumbly mixture. Press the mixture evenly onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake until the crust is fragrant and firm, 7 to 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.

To make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt. Whisk in the whole egg, egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of the milk until thoroughly combined.

In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk to a boil over medium high heat. Remove from the heat. Whisking constantly, very slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture. 

Keep whisking so that you don’t scramble those eggs. Return the entire mixture to the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens, 3 to 5 minutes. 

Remove from the heat, add the chocolate, and let sit for a minute. Add the butter and vanilla and whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust and smooth the surface with a small spatula. Cover the surface entirely with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Make sure the plastic wrap is right up against the filling.

Place the pie in the fridge until thoroughly cooled and set, about 2 hours.

Just before serving, make the topping: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or using a handheld mixer, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla at medium-high speed to form medium peaks. Spread the whipped cream over the pie. Sprinkle all over with chocolate curls and serve.

Tips. 

Chocolate curls are such a pretty and easy way to gussy up a pie or cake. To make yours, hold a block of chocolate with a paper towel (so your hand doesn’t melt the chocolate) and use a vegetable peeler to scrape along the edge to create long, curly strips. Use a skewer to gently pick them up (the heat of your hand could melt them) and place them on the pie.

Create chocolate curls by running a vegetable peeler along a slightly softened block of chocolate as you would along a carrot or potato

Source: Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible