Chocolate Chiffon Pie
An old school chocolate cream pie made with whipped cream and egg whites. The egg whites in this recipe are not cooked, so if you have food safety concerns you should use pasteurized egg whites or find a different recipe.
Servings 8
Cost 5
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs (from 12 sheets or 24 squares)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Chocolate Filling
- 1 cup whole milk (225 grams)
- 1 envelope unflavored gelatin (2 ½ teaspoons)
- 7 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or ground in a food processor or mini chopper (198 grams)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar (130 grams)
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon dry instant coffee crystals
- pinch salt
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream (see note) (225 grams)
- 3 large egg whites or equivalent pasteurized egg whites (92 grams)
Whipped Cream Garnish
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
- Mix together crumbs, sugar, butter and a pinch of salt. Press into the bottom and up sides of a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Let cool completely.
Chocolate Filling
- First, make sure you have what you need for the ice bath, but don't prep it yet. Just make sure you have a bowl big enough to submerge the top of the double boiler, some ice and some water.
- Off heat, put the cold milk in the top of the double boiler and sprinkle gelatin over the milk. Allow it to soften in the cold milk for a full 5 minutes. Also, make sure that the gelatin is covered with milk, so tamp it down a little after you sprinkle it over the milk.
- Meanwhile, add some water to the bottom of the double boiler and bring it to a simmer.
- Once the gelatin has softened, whisk in ⅓ cup of the granulated sugar, 2 egg yolks, and chocolate. Place over the hot simmering water. Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Stir in instant coffee (if using) until dissolved.
- Remove top pot from double boiler and prep your ice bath. Submerge double boiler in the ice bath being careful not to splash water into the chocolate mixture. Stir until it reaches the temperature of your wrist, then remove from the water. If it's taking a long time to cool, you can leave it in the water bath while you whip the egg whites and cream, but keep an eye on it so that it doesn't thicken too quickly.
- Put the cream in a large mixing bowl and whip it with an electric mixer until it holds peaks. Wash the beaters thoroughly.
- Put the 3 large egg whites and salt in a second mixing bowl and beat them. Just as they start turning white, gradually add the remaining ⅓ cup of sugar and continue beating until sugar is dissolved and whites hold their peaks.
- Return the pan with the chocolate mixture to the ice water and stir vigorously, scraping around the sides with a spatula, until it just starts to thicken.
- Fold ⅓ of the cooled chocolate mixture into beaten egg whites, then fold another ⅓ of the chocolate mixture into whipped cream. Fold all mixtures, including last of the chocolate, together
- Pour filling into pie shell filling just to rim and keeping some in the mixing bowl for piling later. Place pie with filling in freezer for 5 minutes, leaving the remainder at room temperature or if it's at all runny, in the refrigerator. Remove filled shell from freezer and mound remaining filling on top, doming it the best you can.
- Garnish the sides with piped sweetened whipped cream. To make whipped cream, beat ¾ of cream along with 2-3 tablespoons of confectioners' sugar until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla.
- Chill for 6 hours or overnight.
Notes
Maida's recipe calls for 1 ½ cups of cream and 2 extra-large or jumbo eggs. My version uses less cream and more egg whites for a slightly fluffier pie.