Chocolate Cream Slab Pie

I love pie, and really love to share it. To share pie with a lot of people, I turn to slab pie. What is a slab pie, you ask? A slab pie is baked on a sheet pan instead of the traditional pie plate. When I was planning a party last week, I started searching the web for different slab pie recipes. I've already mastered the fruit slab pie (see my evidence in this Sour Cherry Slab Pie recipe) and wanted to find that special "something else." I never imagined I could make cream slab pie because I thought it would be too unstable, but found a chocolate one that I just had to try from the How Sweet It Is blog. It looked pretty and was described as a brownie-flavored, cream pie. #allin I made this chocolate cream recipe listed below this weekend, and while it was time consuming, it was completely worth it. More than half of the prep time in this recipe is letting the pie cool in the refrigerator so don't let the prep time listed below defer you. The creaminess of the filling combined with the richness of the chocolate and the lightness of the whipped cream made for a divine-ness treat. As with most recipes I try, here's a few things I learned when making this recipe:

1. Whip instead of Nae Nae. I'm sorry but I just can't get Silento's Watch Me song out of my head as of late. It just so catchy. Nonetheless, here's hoping my simile is catchy, too. Whipping or whisking the pie filling ingredients in the saucepan in lieu of stirring is the way to go. Why? One word: cornstarch. Have you ever really looked at or touched cornstarch? It is really fine; finer than powdered sugar. As soon as a liquid hits it, the cornstarch clumps. No one wants clumps in their pie filling, so use a whisk (wire or silicon depending on your saucepan) to keep it smooth.

2. Shave chocolate. With what? I had never shaved chocolate before this recipe so I didn't know what I was in for, but it was ridiculously easy. Get a large chocolate bar of your choosing; I used Trader's Joes 16 oz. Milk Chocolate bar. I broke the bar in half, held my large, chopping knife at the corner of the bar at a slight angle, and started slicing. Within a few minutes, I had chocolate shavings to melt into the filling and additional shavings for the topping.

3. Silicon Baking Mat v. Parchment Paper. I stated in my Sour Cherry Slab Pie recipe post, that parchment paper is your best friend for slab pie because you can lift the pie out with the greatest of ease, but I decided to try out my silicon baking mat for this recipe. It worked just was well; all I had to do to get the pie out of the pan was to score the crust at the edges of the pan. The bottom of the crust easily released from the mat. Make that TWO best friends for the slab pie!

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Chocolate Cream Slab Pie

Crust Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

2 sticks cold, unsalted butter

1/2 to 3/4 cup cold water

Filling Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cold, heavy cream

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 pinch salt

8 egg yolks

8 ounces high-quality chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping Ingredients:

2 cups cold, heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

4 ounces high-quality chocolate, shaved

Yield: 12-15 servings Prep Time: 6 hours Bake Time: 20-30 mins

Directions:

1. Prepare crust. There are a lot of different techniques for this, but here is my take: Combine all of the dry ingredients in a food processor (pulse a few times to mix), add tablespoon slices of the butter to the food processor and pulse until pea size, remove mixture from food processor and place into a mixing bowl. While stirring with a spoon, add cold water slowly combining until a dough ball forms. Once your crust is made, wrap with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

2. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. As I suggested above, use a silicon mat or line your pan with parchment paper. Roll your pie crust out onto an 18x13-inch baking sheet. Place a piece of parchment paper over the dough and cover the top with pie weights or dried beans. Bake the crust for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the crust is just golden. Remove from the oven, placing the pan on a cooling wrack to cool completely.

3. To make the pie filling, add the sugar, heavy, buttermilk, cornstarch, and salt to a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking occasionally, until it thickens. Reduce the mixture to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Place the egg yolks in a bowl and lightly beat them. Temper the eggs by adding 1/2 cup of the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks, stirring constantly. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan with the milk mixture and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir until it is combined and very thick, about 3 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it into a bowl. Stir in the chocolate, butter and vanilla until it is melted and combined. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the chocolate pudding and stick it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

5. In the meantime, make the topping by adding the remaining cold, heavy cream to the bowl of an electric mixer, beat on medium high using the whisk attachment until peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and beat until combined.

6. Remove chocolate custard from the refrigerator and fold in 1/2 cup of the whipped cream. Place the remaining whipped cream in the refrigerator to spread on top of the pie right before serving. Place the pie in the refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

7. Once ready to serve, spread the whipped cream on top and cover with chocolate shavings. Cut into 12 or 15 squares. Enjoy!

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