Does anyone have a great recipe for French Silk Pie that does not call for Cool Whip? My 12 year old son is addicted, and I have an aversion to synthetic dessert toppings.
rneeno
Jun 05, 2007 02:21PM
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Not a French Silk expert really, but if you do a search on epicurious for chocolate pie they have lots of mousse/silk pies you can do that look great. You can try subbing stabilized whipped cream for the whipped topping, or even the chocolate tofu pie - it really is good and silky. I think that is a good bet (as long as he doesn't know)
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Classic french silk pie contains NO cool whip. Melt butter, sugar, and unsweetened chocolate together, beat until the sugar is dissolved, then beat in eggs, one at a time. Works best in a stand mixer or at least a heavy duty handheld. As you beat in the eggs, the mixture will change texture and begin to fluff up, it's a fun thing to see/do. I don't know the exact proportions, but I seem to recall two sticks of butter, a cup of sugar, four ounces of choc, and four eggs. It makes quite a bit of filling, so use a deep dish & be prepared to pile it high. You do need to refrigerate until it is set.
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Funny, such a basic, old fashioned home recipe: melted chocolate and butter, some sugar, a couple of raw eggs, pour into a baked pie crust and chill. Yet, could not find it in any number of cookbooks I have. Finally found it: Pillsbury Best of the Bakeoff, and 365 Great Chocolate Desserts.
365 lists: 6 oz dark choc, 1 stick butter, 1/2 c powdered sugar, 2 T liqueur, 2 raw eggs.
Pillsbury has: 3 oz. bitter choc, 1 c butter, 1 c sugar, vanilla, 4 eggs.
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After trying and failing and tweaking the recipe a bit, here's what I did for the filling:
KEY TIP #1: all ingredients - eggs, chocolate, butter - should be room temp / or butter softened just before blending.
Take 1/2 cup of (softened, - not - melted) unsalted butter.
Cream together with 3/4 cup granulated sugar with a spoon until blended.
Take out your hand mixer - use WHISK, not paddle, etc! attachments - set on medium, beat for 3 minutes or so until butter/sugar is fluffy.
KEY TIP 2: Whipping the product using a hand mixer, with WHISK attachments at each stage for minutes at a time after adding ingredients is key, esp. after adding eggs.
Melt 1.5 oz unsweetened chocolate in microwave in 30 sec increments or double boiler, LET cool, add it to butter/sugar. Add 1 tsp vanilla. Beat 2 minutes more.
Add 2 ROOM temperature eggs one at a time, beating 5-7 minutes after each egg.
KEY TIP #3: room temp eggs are essential to ensure you get maximum volume. I read on bakingbites.com that the proteins in the eggs aren't as elastic or expansive when cold so you don't get the requisite fluffiness and lightness.
If the texture still doesn't look quite right, beat some more, even 15-20 minutes total. This will ensure a non-grainy, smooth filling.
Pour into prepared crust/base and refridgerate for 2 hours to let it set.
Anticipating any pangs of guilt or regret? Tips to lighten the load: To cut down on fat/calories I've:
-used a meringue crust made with splenda sugar baking blend (search allrecipes.com, I had the idea to fold in 1/2 cup crushed saltine crumbs to the eggwhite sugar mix which resulted in a wonderful golden, butterscotchy molten crunch to the crust. Who knew?) or
sprayed nonstick butter spray in the bottom of a wide dish, and spread a thick layer of graham cracker crumbs down for the crust. It was crumbly and messy as it was not bound together using butter or marg, etc. and would probably present and serve best out of a long rectangular shallow pan, so you could use a long square spatula to slide under the crumbs to neatly scoop them out.
But really, no one cares at that point, and it works fine regardless.
-used fat free redi-whip (best of the alternatives) as a topping.
-used room temp egg substitute (not the clear egg whites in a carton, but thick yellow eggbeaters) in place of raw eggs. They work pretty well but whole eggs are best for consistency and richness.
Note that using egg substitute also this takes away any concerns about pasteurization with raw whole eggs.
IDEALLY: for the best taste and texture, you should use a meringue crust (recommended) or a high quality pastry crust, whole eggs, and lightly sweetened whipped cream to top it, garnished with semi sweet chocolate curls.
Enjoy!
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