French Silk Pie

Sorry for the break, but we were out of town for a few weeks. Back to pie-making! Yesterday I made my favorite pie so far. When I was little we lived outside Kansas City, Kansas and I remember my parents going on dates to eat at KC Masterpiece and picking up pies from Tippins. The one kind of pie I remember them bringing home was a french silk pie. I found a recipe for that and tried it last night. It was really, really good and pretty easy. I think I'll make it one of my traditional pies this time of year.

French Silk Pie

Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book

1 baked pastry shell

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces (6 ounces)

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 beaten egg yolks

3 tablespoons creme de cacao or whipping cream

1 cup whipped cream

chocolate curls, optional

1. In a medium heavy saucepan combine 1 cup whipping cream, chocolate pieces, butter and sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat. Gradually stir half of chocolate mixture into beaten egg yolks. Return egg mixture to chocolate mixture in saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is slightly thickened and begins to bubble (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat. (Mixture may appear to separate.) Stir in creme de cacao. Place the saucepan in a bowl of ice water, stirring occasionally, until the mixture stiffens and becomes hard to stir (about 20 minutes). Transfer to medium mixing bowl.

2. Beat cooled chocolate mixture with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Spread filling into baked (and cooled) pastry shell. Cover and refrigerate pie for 5-24 hours. To serve, top with whipped cream and garnish with chocolate curls.