Chocolate Pudding Pie

Chocolate Pudding Pie

My son, who is 12 and my daughter, 14, are turning into able bakers in their own right. Both of them have no problem banging out a homemade chocolate cake, or a  batch of cookies or cupcakes. A couple of nights ago they announced they were going to make homemade chocolate pudding and that became the inspiration for their delicious Chocolate Pudding Pie. The pudding recipe is one I often used as a kid, which brought back memories of my early days in the kitchen as we all enjoyed this creamy chocolate pie.

Chocolate Crumb Crust

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

Mix together:

1 1/3 cups chocolate cookie crumbs

2 tbsp sugar

1/3 cup melted butter

Press evenly into the bottom and sides of a 9 inch glass pie pan and bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Chocolate Pudding Filling

In the microwave, scald almost to the boiling point:

2 1/2 cups whole milk

Sift together:

4 rounded tbsp flour

6 rounded tbsp cocoa

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

It is a good idea to run this mix through a sieve or flour sifter to ensure that there are no small lumps of cocoa in it.

Add the mixture to a medium sized pot over medium low heat and immediately add about 1/3 of the milk, stirring constantly. When the mixture begins to thicken, add another third of the milk and when that begins to thicken, add the final third of the milk. You have to stir this continuously during the cooking time. 

In a large measuring cup, whisk together 

3 egg yolks

Before adding the whisked egg yolks you have to temper them with some of the pudding to ensure they don't scramble and produce lumps. To do this, working as quickly as you can, remove from the heat and just add a ladle full of the pudding mixture to the egg yolks, whisking constantly then add them all at once back to the pudding mixture, still stirring the pudding constantly. Cook for another two to three minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour the hot pudding into the prepared pie crust and cool completely in the fridge. To prevent a "skin" from forming over the pudding as it cools, cover the surface of the pie with plastic wrap if you like.

When completely cooled and set, garnish the pie with vanilla whipped cream and grated chocolate before serving.

Vanilla Whipped Cream

1 cup whipping cream

2 tbsp icing sugar (i.e. powdered sugar)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip all together until soft peaks form.