Cream Pie...Part Two

It was told unto me that blogging etiquette requires a recipe accompanying pictures of eatables. So, for thee, Mrs. Edgren, thou mayest enjoy this humble recipe.

Dark Chocolate Cream Pie

Recipe taken from Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

1 Baked Pastry Shell (recipe following)

4 eggs divided

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

2 1/2 cups milk or half-in-half

a little under one cup of chocolate chips

1 tbsp. butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 pint whipping cream

<>Prepare Baked Pastry Shell. Separate egg yolks from whites. Discard whites.

<>For filling, in a medium saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in milk or half-in-half. Add chocolate chips right after mild is stirred in. Cook and STIR over medium heat until thickened and bubbly; reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Slightly beat egg yolks, and gradually stir in 1 cup of hot filling into yolks. Add egg yolk mixture to filling in saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil; reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Keep filling warm.

<>Whip whipping cream until quite stiff, adding enough powdered sugar to sweeten.

<>Pour warm filling into Baked Pastry Shell. Cool, until room temperature. (If you are in a hurry, put pie in freezer to chill faster) Spread whipping cream over chilled filling. If desired, you can grate some chocolate chips over the top. ;o)

Baked Pastry Shell:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup shortening (I used half butter, half shortening)

4 t0 5 tablespoons cold water

O In a medium sized bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea-size.

O Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water at a time over the flour mixture; gently toss with a fork, just until moistened.

O To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin. Unroll pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin. Unroll pastry into a 9-inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it.

O Trim pastry to 1 1/2 inches beyond edge of pie plate. Fold pastry under. Crimp edge as desired.

Can She Bake a Cream Pie? Maybe...

Okay, so I have never made a successful cream pie. The sad truth comes out. Yes I can cook without poisoning my family, and bake berry pies that are enjoyable, but I never could attain to a cream pie. It has always nettled me that my brother could make a good one, not just mediocre, but a really good one. There is something very wrong here, that a guy can make a pie, but a girl can't. SO... last night I rolled up my sleeves and attempted it once again, under the guise of 'treating' my dad to a dark chocolate cream pie. To my complete and utter disbelief, it actually worked!! Following are the pictures, forever marking this most momentous day in history.

Voila! Dark Chocolate Cream Pie! Yes, it is lopsided!! Thank you for noticing. I was hoping the background would hide that little deformity. I have never had a lopsided crust, so it is a mystery as to how this happened.