Just so you know, it has taken me a whole year to get this post done!

About two years ago, I read the popular novel, The Help.  If you’ve read it, you probably loved it, and you probably now look at chocolate pies with either a laugh or a little fear.  If you read The Help and you’re also a fan of Mad Men, you probably thought that the Draper’s maid, Carla, should have presented Betty Draper with a special chocolate pie after her hateful termination(last season).  I’d recently started ShawnsPlate when I saw that episode of Mad Men.  Hoping to possibly identify with someone who’d read the book and seen that episode, I wanted to do a post on chocolate pie.

Anyway, with all that said, my husband loves chocolate pie.  His grandmother, Dear, made the best.  It was dark, rich, and creamy.  I saw her make it once and noticed that she not only used cocoa, she added chocolate to the filling.  So, I figured that I’d make his pie and fulfill the destiny of this post.

Why did it take a whole year?  Well, I made a chocolate pie a year ago but by the time I was ready for photos, it was too dark outside.  The photos that I took were heavily flashed and they were horrible at best.  It would be a whole year before I made another chocolate pie.

That chocolate pie popped up on my radar again after seeing the movie adaptation of The Help late this summer, and thinking about my husband’s love for chocolate pie, and wanting to finally get the post done.  I actually made the pie a few weeks ago.  Guess what?! Again, I didn’t finish up until after dark.  Not wanting a repeat of the last horrible photos, I decided to wait until morning for photos.  Apparently, chocolate pie cannot be left alone…by morning I was down to half a pie!  Not good for photos 🙁

I started over today with the mindset that I would make and deliver this pie to give away.  Hopefully, if the recipient(s) has seen The Help, they’ll trust me 🙂

Whisking dry ingredients thoroughly, beat in eggs(remove that white membrane), chocolate/butter mixture, milk & vanilla

No lumps! Pour into pie shell and bake…

After completely cooling, top with sweetened whipped cream and grated chocolate.

Rich Chocolate Pie
Makes 1 9-inch pie or 1 10-inch tart

1 pie crust, your favorite or mine+2 tablespoons sugar*
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 good pinch of salt
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 ounces dark chocolate, not unsweetened
2 eggs
1 cup Pet-Milk(evaporated milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
sweetened whipped cream for topping(optional)
grated chocolate(optional)

*If you decide to use my recipe for pie crust, add replace the 1 teaspoon of sugar with 2 tablespoons of sugar in the dry ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  If using a tart pan, line the bottom with parchment paper.  Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness and transfer to prepared tart pan or pie plate and trim excess*. Prick bottom several times with fork and pre-bake for 5 minutes before filling.

In a small sauce pan, heat butter and chocolate on very low heat until butter is completely melted.  Remove from heat and stir until smooth.  In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, salt, and cocoa until no lumps appear.  Add eggs, removing any hard white membrane, and beat until there is no trace of egg.  Stir in butter/chocolate mixture.  Add evaporated milk in thirds, until mixture smooth.  Stir in vanilla and pour filling into crust.  Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.  Allow pie to cool completely before serving.  Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with grated chocolate.

*If you have excess dough, it would be great for fried pies…just saying.