Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (45 page)

OPTIONAL
:
Cover the filling either now or later with a generous topping of Chocolate Shavings (see page 263). Or shortly before serving cover the top with a generous amount of whipped cream as in the previous recipe (see page 183). Or form a border of whipped cream. (To make just a border, whip ½ cup heavy cream with ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of strained confectioners sugar until the cream holds a shape. Then either use a pastry bag fitted with a medium-size star tube and form small rosettes, touching one another, around the rim of the chocolate, or use a teaspoon and place the cream around the rim in small mounds.) The cream may be decorated with pecan halves or pieces or with chocolate coffee beans (candy).

Chocolate Pie with Graham Crust

8 TO 10
P
ORTIONS

When my friend Cecily Brownstone, the Associated Press food editor, made Graham Crackers from my cookie book, she said she was going to make a pie crust with them. She meant that she was going to make crumbs and a regular crumb crust. I misunderstood and thought that she meant to use the rolled-out dough to line a pie plate. I tried it and it turned out to be a wonderful idea—a whole graham cracker crust in one piece, not made from crumbs. (The dough handles beautifully.)

The crust seemed to call for a rich chocolate filling, and whipped cream topping. (The filling is a walnut version of one often used in a pie called French Silk Pie.)

GRAHAM CRUST(SEE NOTES)

½ cup sifted all-purpose white flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

⅛ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 ounces (½ stick) butter

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup unsifted all-purpose whole-wheat flour (stir lightly to aerate before measuring)

¼ cup milk

Sift together the white flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.

In the small bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add the vanilla, brown sugar, and honey and beat to mix well. On low speed add the whole-wheat flour and the sifted dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions. Scrape the bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula and beat only until smooth after each addition. If the mixture is not completely smooth, turn it out onto a board or smooth work surface and knead it briefly with the heel of your hand.

Divide the dough in half. Form each half into a round ball, flatten slightly, wrap airtight, and refrigerate for at least 2 to 3 hours. It may be refrigerated for several days or frozen.

When ready to prepare the crust, adjust a rack to the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Have a 9-inch pie plate ready. Flour a pastry cloth and a rolling pin.

Place one piece of the dough on the cloth and turn it over to flour both sides lightly. Roll out the dough into a circle at least 12½ or 13 inches in diameter (it will be very thin).

Roll the dough up loosely around the rolling pin and unroll it over the pie plate, centering it as evenly as you can. Gently ease it into place in the plate. If you have a cake-decorating turntable or a lazy Susan, place the pie plate on it.

With scissors trim the crust 1 inch beyond the edge of the plate. Fold the crust edge back on itself to the outside forming a ½-inch hem. Pinch the folded-over dough lightly with thumb and index finger into a rim standing about ½ inch all around. With your fingers press gently against the crust to make sure it touches the plate all over. And with your fingers flute the rim
around the edge of the crust. With a fork, pierce holes at about ½-inch intervals over the bottom and sides of the crust.

Chill the crust briefly in the freezer or refrigerator—a few minutes will be enough—or if you wish you can keep it chilled longer and bake it later.

Bake the crust for 16 or 17 minutes until it is lightly colored all over and slightly darker at the edge.

Place on a rack until completely cool.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Or the baked crust may be frozen and filled much later.

FRENCH SILK FILLING

3 ounces (3 squares) unsweetened chocolate

6 ounces (1½ sticks) butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

4 eggs

½ cup walnuts, cut into medium-size pieces

Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cover and let stand only until melted. Remove from the hot water and set aside, uncovered, to cool.

In the small bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter until it is soft. Add the vanilla and sugar and beat well for several minutes. Add the melted chocolate and beat to mix. Now add the eggs one at a time, beating for 5 (
five
) minutes after each addition. For the first egg you can use high speed, but as you add the remaining eggs and the mixture thins, reduce the speed as necessary to avoid splashing. Total beating time for the eggs is 20 minutes.

Stir in the walnuts and pour the mixture into the baked and cooled crust.

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

The following whipped cream may be prepared just before serving or early in the day to use that night—the little bit of gelatin will keep it from separating.

WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin

2 tablespoons cold water

2 cups heavy cream

½ cup strained confectioners sugar

Scant 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Optional: coarsely grated chocolate

In a small heatproof cup sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let stand for a few minutes. Then place the cup in a small pan of shallow hot water on low heat. Let stand until the gelatin is dissolved.

Reserve about 3 tablespoons of the cream and place the rest in the small bowl of an electric mixer. (If the room is very warm the bowl and beaters should be chilled.) Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until the cream increases in volume and barely holds a soft shape. Quickly stir the reserved cream into the dissolved gelatin and, beating constantly, pour all at once into the whipped cream. Continue to beat only until the cream holds a shape and is just firm enough to be a topping—don’t overbeat.

Place the whipped cream, one large spoonful at a time, around the outer edge of the pie. Then fill in the center. Place any remaining cream on the center. With a rubber spatula spread the cream to cover the pie and then to form swirls.

Sprinkle with the optional grated chocolate and then refrigerate until serving time.

Serve in small portions—really!

NOTES
:
1. The recipe for the graham crust will make two crusts. You can either divide the recipe in half to make only one, or bake two crusts, or freeze the remaining dough or use it for cookies. I recommend making the full amount; it is no more work and it is nice to have it on hand.

You can use this crust for any recipe that calls for a baked crust or a crumb crust, and you can make cookies with any leftover scraps of the dough. Press them together, wrap airtight, and chill until firm enough to roll. Then, on a floured pastry cloth with a floured rolling pin, roll the dough until it is a scant ¼-inch thick. Cut into squares or circles, transfer to an unbuttered cookie sheet, and with a fork prick the cookies at ½-inch intervals. Bake above the center of a 350-degree oven for about 12 minutes or until the cookies are lightly colored. Transfer them to a rack to cool.

2. This French Silk Filling may of course also be used in a regular baked pie shell (see page 176) or a crumb crust (see page 176).

Chocolate Chiffon Pie

8
P
ORTIONS

This is a beautiful and important pie. The filling is airy, creamy dark chocolate, mounded 2 ¼ inches high. The crust may be prepared ahead of time but the filling should be made early in the day for that night; it is more delicate if it does not stand overnight.

PIE CRUST

Prepare a pie shell and bake it in a 9-inch pie plate (see page 176). Cool it completely.

CHOCOLATE FILLING

7 ounces semisweet chocolate

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon (1 envelope) unflavored gelatin

⅔ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs (graded extra-large or jumbo), separated

1 teaspoon dry instant coffee

1½ cups heavy cream

Pinch of salt

The chocolate must be finely ground. It may be ground in a food processor, a blender, or a nut or chocolate grater. (If you use a food processor or a blender, it should be chopped or broken into small pieces first.) When the chocolate is finely ground, set it aside.

Place the milk in the top of a large double boiler. Sprinkle the gelatin over the milk and let it stand for 2 or 3 minutes. Add ⅓ cup of the sugar (reserve remaining ⅓ cup), the egg yolks, and the chocolate. Stir to mix thoroughly. Place over hot water on moderate heat and stir constantly until the chocolate, sugar, and gelatin are dissolved. (Do not overcook or the yolks will curdle.) Add the dry instant coffee and stir to dissolve. Remove from the hot water.

Place the top of the double boiler in a large bowl of ice and water and stir the chocolate mixture until it reaches room temperature (test it on the inside of your wrist). Remove from the ice water and set aside.

In a chilled bowl with chilled beaters whip the cream until it barely holds a shape (if it is too stiff it will make the filling heavy). Set aside.

Beat the egg whites and the salt in the small bowl of the electric mixer until the whites have increased in volume and started to thicken. On moderate speed, while beating, add the reserved sugar very gradually. Then increase the speed to high and beat only until the whites barely hold a peak when the beaters are raised, or when the whites are lifted with a rubber spatula. (Do not beat the whites too stiff and dry or it will be difficult to fold them in.) Set them aside.

Now replace the chocolate mixture in the ice water and stir constantly with a rubber spatula, scraping around the bottom and sides until the mixture has barely started to thicken. (Do not wait until
it actually stiffens. The ideal conditions for folding are to have the chocolate, whites and cream, all the same consistency.)

Fold about one-third of the chocolate into the beaten whites and fold another third into the whipped cream. Then, in a large bowl, fold together the whites, the cream, and the remaining chocolate. (Do not handle any more than necessary.)

Pour the chiffon mixture into the prepared shell but watch the rim carefully—you will possibly have more filling than the shell will hold, and you must be careful not to let it run over the edges. Pour in only as much as the shell will safely hold. Place the filled shell in the freezer for a few minutes (leaving the remaining filling at room temperature) just until the filling in the shell is slightly set. Then mound the remaining filling high in the center.