Pie #8: Classic Chocolate Cream Pie

I chose to make a pie for a life group that I attend each week since it was my week to bring sweets. I thought it would be a great opportunity to share a pie! My next pie to make was Classic Chocolate Cream Pie, doesn’t that just sound yummy? When I hear the words “chocolate” and “pie”, I think of my Mammaw because she used to make the BEST chocolate pie. So, I was nervous before I even started making this pie because I doubted this one could live up to the memories I had of her pies…

I was really tired when I started making this pie so I knew I would need some help. I asked my husband, Joshua, to be my sous-chef for this pie. Thankfully, he was happy to help, thanks babe!

The pie called for an Oreo pie crust, which is just smashed up Oreos and butter. Joshua did a great job in assembling this pie crust. He can smash things real well, like the Hulk… “Hulk Smash!” he says…

While my helper was working on the pie crust, I began to get the ingredients ready. As I was getting everything in order I came to the egg part. On a side note, we only had 5 eggs in the house and the recipe called for 4 egg YOLKS. When I read this I saw 4 egg WHITES since that’s what the recipes have been calling for lately. So, the first egg yolk I dumped right into the sink and Joshua was asking me what I was doing. Now, as the “head chef”, I thought to myself “I know you are not watching me make my pies, and don’t even think about telling me what I’m doing wrong!” So, I looked at him and said, “What? I am getting the egg whites!” Joshua gave a weird look and then said, “Umm, you might want to look at the recipe again…” Well, yeah, it called for 4 egg YOLKS not egg whites… So, I guess I’m lucky that Joshua caught that; it might have made a world of difference on how the pie turned out.

After the Oreo crust set in the freezer, we put it in the oven for a few minutes. When the time was up I was getting it out of the oven and I said, “No worries I got it!” Well, while taking the pie pan out of the oven IT SLIPPED from my hands, I did not drop it; but, it was a CLOSE call for sure.

I have noticed in my pie making journey that if it requires anything to be cooked on the stove for some reason I become a little nervous. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s all the stirring till you get the right consistency, and not knowing what I’m looking for that can be a tad bit nerve racking. So, while the pie crust was cooling we worked on the filling. I was so glad Joshua was there to help with the stirring part; it became quite difficult as the filling got thicker. The filling was supposed to take 5-7 minutes to melt on the stove. Well, five minutes past and then seven minutes passed and the filling took about fifteen minutes to get to the consistency that we needed. Once we got the cream consistency we were looking for, we had to work fast. We took the sauce pan off the burner and Joshua continued to stir as I added the rest of the ingredients. The filling got thick pretty fast, which is a good thing because that is what we were looking for.

After pouring the filling into the pie crust, the recipe said to cover the pie filling with a non-stick plastic cover to block out all the air. So, we used Glad Wrap Press and Seal and the first attempt to cover the pie did not work out very well; thankfully there was enough to try it one more time which seemed to work. After wrapping the pie we needed to let it cool again. So, I left it out for a while and then put in the refrigerator to let it set overnight.

After letting the pie set all night, during lunch the next day we checked the pie. Taking off the Press and Seal stuff the condensation that accumulated from the pie fell on the top of the pie. With Joshua’s quick thinking we got a paper towel and tipped the pie up on one end and used the paper towel to soak up the water. I started to wonder why it did that. Did the pie need to cool more before putting it in the fridge to cool over night? Should we have pushed down the cling film to the filling part so there would be no air (suggestion from my Mom)? But, if we did that, they when taking off the plastic wrap wouldn’t you lose some of the filling? I even called my Granny, she suggested using a non-stick foil next time and see if that helps. To this day, I still don’t know what I could have done differently. But, I will say this, next time the recipe calls for covering the filling I am going to recall what happened here and try something different. I am open to ideas, if you have any on this.

Per instructions from the Ken Haedrich book “Pie”, it is best not to do the topping till right before serving. So, just before leaving for our life group, where we were taking the pie, I made the topping. It consists of powder sugar and heavy whipping cream. It was easy to make and it turned out really good. I think next time I am going to decorate it in some way using the pastry piping thingy, I think that would be a nice touch.

Hello Results: Everyone loved the pie! It had just the right texture and was a hit! Even my kids loved it. I would love to figure out the plastic wrap vs. non-stick foil issue before I bake another pie like this. I need to make sure to not start a pie when I am already beat. It is great to know I have a wonderful sous-chef to help me! As for how it compared to my Mammaw’s pie, hers had a meringue topping and was baked (obviously a different pie) and this one was whipped and no-bake. I don’t completely remember what hers used to taste like but it made me feel closer to her and brought back wonderful memories. I miss you Mammaw! Only 292 to go! I love seeing that number go down.