Double Chocolate Pie & THE HELP
One of the best things I learned in culinary school was how to feel more confident making dough from scratch. Whether I’m making biscuits, scones, or pies, homemade dough no longer intimidates me like it used to. Homemade crust is a game-changer when making pie, especially when it’s a chocolate crust!
Inspired by the movie The Help, I made Minny’s chocolate pie, without the special ingredient of course (I won’t spoil what that special ingredient is for those who haven’t seen the movie). Feel safe knowing that this chocolate pie is chocolate through and through. For a truly decadent chocolate experience, the crust is chocolate and the filling is basically a moist fudge brownie.
The Help is an American period drama film – adapted from Kathryn Stockett’s novel – starring Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, and Emma Stone. The movie follows Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, an aspiring journalist, during the Civil Rights era in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963. Through the form of a book, Skeeter decides to expose the racism that the maids experience during their work for white families.
This Double Chocolate Pie is the sweetest treat for chocolate lovers – this crust is flaky and light while the filling is rich and dense. A tip I learned in culinary school: once the liquid ingredients have been added into the dry ingredients, shape the dough into a log (versus a square). This makes it easier to pound and roll out into a circle after the dough has hardened in the refrigerator for two hours. When it comes to making dough (and most baking in general), I’ve gotten accustomed to weighing ingredients instead of measuring them. If you don’t have one already, buy yourself a food scale! It comes in handy more than you’d think. I’ve included both the weight and measure, so use whichever suits you best.
Double Chocolate Pie
Serves: 1 9.5 inch pie | Cooking time: 4-5 hours
Ingredients
Chocolate Pie Crust
1.5 cups (175 g) cake flour
3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
1¾ (5 g) teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons (8 g) sugar
1/3 cup (35 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ sticks (340 g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
½ egg (25 g) (crack the egg into a cup, scramble it, and use half)
1/3 cup ice cold water (use as needed, don’t pour all of it in at once)
Chocolate Pie Filling
1 cup 2% milk
1/3 cup unsalted butter
8 oz bittersweet chocolate chunks
2 oz semisweet chocolate chunks
1½ cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
Method
Chocolate Pie Crust
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2. Add the cubed butter to the dry ingredients and mix in stand mixer or by hand.
3. Add the egg and ice water until the ingredients mix together into a smooth dough. Don’t overwork the dough.
4. Form the dough into a log, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for one to two hours.
5. After two hours, pound out the log of dough and roll into a circle to fit your pie pan. Layer the dough into the pie pan.
6. Cut off the excess edges of the pie crust, and shape the outer rim by pinching it with your fingers or using a fork to create a pattern.
Chocolate Pie Filling
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
2. Whisk the sugar, flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, and salt together in a bowl.
3. In a pan, melt the butter, chocolate, and milk together until they combine into a smooth liquid. Let this cool for 10 minutes before adding eggs.
4. Once the chocolate batter has cooled, mix in the eggs and egg yolks and stir until combined.
5. Add in dry ingredients to the batter, and mix until fully combined and smooth.
6. Pour all of the batter into the center of the pie, and smooth out on top.
7. Bake for 50-55 minutes, and let cool before slicing (but don’t completely cool, because warm pie is the best pie).
© A Dash of Cinema