Recipe: S'mores Pie
I've been liveblogging my cooking on Tumblr. It's been interesting to do, but it's a bit tricky to offer up recipes there, so I've been trying to figure out new ways of doing it that don't rely on LJ, because (a) it's hard for me to keep track of the LJ recipes so I can find them again faster later, and (b) it's also tricky to print a recipe off LJ.
ladyprydian suggested Google Docs, so I've been using that, and so far I like it. But I don't have many recipes on there yet. And of course, that means I'm not posting the recipes here, which I admit is a little sad, because my Tumblr audience is not the same as my LJ audience, so you guys are missing out on the deliciousness.
In an effort to be better about that, I give you the pie I made this afternoon for our dinner-time company: S'mores Pie
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Filling:
1 cup milk
¼ cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
2 large egg yolks
1 Tbsp brewed coffee, cooled
¼ tsp vanilla
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
For Marshmallow Topping:
3 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
Graham cracker crust
2 ounces melted bittersweet chocolate
Instructions:
1. Brush the graham cracker crust with the melted chocolate. The layer will be very thin; that’s okay. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.
2. Make the Chocolate Filling. Heat the milk in a medium saucepan until hot but not boiling. Wisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a medium bowl, and then add in the egg yolks, coffee, and vanilla.
3. Whisk half the hot milk into the yolk mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and continue cooking until the mixture boils and thickens (about 3-5 minutes). Transfer to a bowl and cool slightly, stirring once or twice to prevent a skin from forming.
4. Using a plastic spatula, pour the chocolate filling through a mesh sieve to eliminate any lumps. Transfer the smooth filling into the chilled pie crust and smooth the top as much as possible. Recover with plastic wrap, and return to the fridge to chill at least one more hour (two is better).
5. Make the Marshmallow Topping. Beat three egg whites, the cream of tartar, and the powdered sugar together at high speed in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water. When the mixture begins to thicken, remove from the water and continue beating until stiff. Spread the topping on the chilled pie, smooth it out, then use a spatula or the back of a spoon to create the spikes. Cover and return to the fridge. (At this point, you may want to switch to a pie-keeper so that you don’t ruin the top.)
6. Just before serving, broil or torch the marshmallow topping so that it’s “toasted”. Cut and serve. Campfire optional.
Notes:
--The original recipe had me bake the graham cracker crust; it was good, but extremely hard to cut through and very crunchy. I might have overbaked it a bit, or it might have been the melted chocolate; it’s hard to tell. I think it might be better unbaked, but do as you like.
--The original recipe also had 4 ounces of chocolate to spread on the crust; considering the difficulty I had with cutting the pie at 2 ounces (because lo, sometimes I can’t read), I think 4 would have been WAY too much. There was plenty of straight-up chocolate flavor from 2, a bit like the bite of Hershey’s bar that the toasted marshmallow doesn’t melt (s’mores aficionados know what I mean). If you want more of that, by all means add another ounce, but be aware it’ll make cutting tricky.
--The marshmallow topping by itself is a bit plain, but it worked great with the other flavors. If you want to use it somewhere else, I think it would be improved with half to one teaspoon of vanilla.
Click here for the printable Google Docs version of this recipe.
ladyprydian suggested Google Docs, so I've been using that, and so far I like it. But I don't have many recipes on there yet. And of course, that means I'm not posting the recipes here, which I admit is a little sad, because my Tumblr audience is not the same as my LJ audience, so you guys are missing out on the deliciousness.
In an effort to be better about that, I give you the pie I made this afternoon for our dinner-time company: S'mores Pie
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Filling:
1 cup milk
¼ cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
2 large egg yolks
1 Tbsp brewed coffee, cooled
¼ tsp vanilla
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
For Marshmallow Topping:
3 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
Graham cracker crust
2 ounces melted bittersweet chocolate
Instructions:
1. Brush the graham cracker crust with the melted chocolate. The layer will be very thin; that’s okay. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.
2. Make the Chocolate Filling. Heat the milk in a medium saucepan until hot but not boiling. Wisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a medium bowl, and then add in the egg yolks, coffee, and vanilla.
3. Whisk half the hot milk into the yolk mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and continue cooking until the mixture boils and thickens (about 3-5 minutes). Transfer to a bowl and cool slightly, stirring once or twice to prevent a skin from forming.
4. Using a plastic spatula, pour the chocolate filling through a mesh sieve to eliminate any lumps. Transfer the smooth filling into the chilled pie crust and smooth the top as much as possible. Recover with plastic wrap, and return to the fridge to chill at least one more hour (two is better).
5. Make the Marshmallow Topping. Beat three egg whites, the cream of tartar, and the powdered sugar together at high speed in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water. When the mixture begins to thicken, remove from the water and continue beating until stiff. Spread the topping on the chilled pie, smooth it out, then use a spatula or the back of a spoon to create the spikes. Cover and return to the fridge. (At this point, you may want to switch to a pie-keeper so that you don’t ruin the top.)
6. Just before serving, broil or torch the marshmallow topping so that it’s “toasted”. Cut and serve. Campfire optional.
Notes:
--The original recipe had me bake the graham cracker crust; it was good, but extremely hard to cut through and very crunchy. I might have overbaked it a bit, or it might have been the melted chocolate; it’s hard to tell. I think it might be better unbaked, but do as you like.
--The original recipe also had 4 ounces of chocolate to spread on the crust; considering the difficulty I had with cutting the pie at 2 ounces (because lo, sometimes I can’t read), I think 4 would have been WAY too much. There was plenty of straight-up chocolate flavor from 2, a bit like the bite of Hershey’s bar that the toasted marshmallow doesn’t melt (s’mores aficionados know what I mean). If you want more of that, by all means add another ounce, but be aware it’ll make cutting tricky.
--The marshmallow topping by itself is a bit plain, but it worked great with the other flavors. If you want to use it somewhere else, I think it would be improved with half to one teaspoon of vanilla.
Click here for the printable Google Docs version of this recipe.