French Silk Pie with Peppermint Whipped Cream
This filling in this recipe is adapted from Sally’s Baking Recipes.
Ingredients:
For the chocolate crust:
2 1/3 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
16 tbsp butter
1/2 cup ice water
For filling:
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
For topping:
1.5 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
Peppermint and chocolate curls for topping, optional
Instructions:
Start with the crust the day before you’re making the pie:
Sift the flour and cocoa powder together, and then whisk in the salt and sugar.
Add the cubed butter into the flour, and rub the butter into the flour with your hands until you’ve reached walnut-sized pieces of butter and the dough appears crumbly.
Add the ice water and mix with a butter knife until you feel the dough forming. Once you can bring the dough together into a ball, turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and create a 1-2 cm disk of dough. Making a flatter disk will ensure rolling out is easier the next day. Also, try to close any cracks at the edge of the dough, as they will get bigger when you roll the dough out.
Place the dough into the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until it feels firm.
When ready, roll the dough out into a circle about 1/8 inch thick. Trim the edges of the dough to remove any cracked edges; this will make moving the crust into the pan much easier. Place the crust into the pan and crimp the edges however you want. Place the crust into the fridge overnight, uncovered.
The next day:
Preheat your oven to 190 C/375 F
Take your pie crust out of the fridge, and line it with parchment paper (crunch it up first so it’s easier to move around. Fill the parchment-lined crust with pie weights. Make sure the pie weights go up the edges of the crust which will ensure the crust keeps its shape as much as possible.
Bake the pie crust with the weights in for around 20 minutes. A good way to test that you’re ready to take the weights out is that you can lift a bit of the parchment and the crust stays in place. If this happens, then you can take the weights out. Once the weights are out, bake for another 10-15 minutes. A good test that the crust is ready is that it feels sandy, not wet or greasy.
Remove the crust from the oven and allow it to cool while you finish the filling.
Cut your chocolate, melt it, and set it aside.
Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and place over a double boiler (a pot filled about 1 inch with water with a bowl placed on top). Whisk constantly until they reach about 70 degrees C or 150 F. This will make sure the eggs are cooked since you don’t bake this pie.
While waiting for the eggs to cool, just for about 10 minutes, whip the cream until it reaches stiff peaks. You can also beat together your butter and vanilla at this time.
Add the melted chocolate to the cooled eggs and stir until fully combined. Slowly pour the melted chocolate mixture into the butter and beat until fully combined.
Delicately fold in the whipped cream, this will give the filling an airy texture.
Fill your baked and cooled pie crust with the filling and smooth out the top.
Cover the pie and chill in the fridge for 4-6 hours or until the filling is fully set.
Make the whipped cream by combining the ingredients and whisking until you have soft peaks. Stop sooner than you think, as you want to make sure the cream doesn’t appear curdled on top of the pie.
Top with grated chocolate or crushed peppermint and enjoy!
