Chili & Chocolate Silk Pie

Stephen and I had some friends over for supper last night.  Since it's fall and I adore comfort food I made chili, cornbread and a chocolate silk pie.  Unfortunately, the weather played a trick on me and it was in the upper 70's ... ah well.  I thought I would share a few pictures and the recipes I used:

Mom's Chili:
1 lg. can Brook's Chili Beans (mild)
1 lg. can Tomato Juice
1 package McCormick's Chili Mix(mild)
1 1/2-2 lbs ground beef, browned

Put all ingredients in the crock pot for 5-6 hours on low, serve with crackers, cheese and spaghetti noddles if desired.

Perhaps the best part of this meal is that it makes plenty so you'll have left overs :)


Smitten Kitchen is the first food blog I ever read and it's still my favorite blog today.  Deb is the inspiration for a lot of my cooking and why I started a food blog a few years back.  I quit doing my food blog (another story for another day) but thought from time to time I would share some recipes here. Anyway, the chocolate silk pie I made is from Deb's cookbook and it's amazing! I think I've already made this pie 4 times and it's always a hit.  My pie crust didn't turn out as ascetically pleasing as normal but it didn't affect the taste so who cares, right?

I didn't make the pie crust that goes with the chocolate silk pie because I didn't have the ingredients so I instead used the "All butter, really flaky pie dough" recipe:

"All butter, really flaky pie dough"

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp salt
16 tbsp. butter, very cold
1/2 cup ice-cold water

By hand, in a large widish bowl, stir together your flour, sugar, and salt.  Cut the butter into a medium-sized dice and scatter the pieces over the flour.  Using your pastry blender or fingertips, work the butter into the flour mixture until the largest pieces of butter are the size of tiny peas.

If the butter has warmed up a bit, place the bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes to quickly cool it down again.  Drizzle the water over the flour-butter mixture and use a flexible spatula to gently stir it together until a craggy, uneven mass forms.  Knead the dough and any loose bits together, working quickly so as to warm it as little as possible.  If your bowl is wide enough, you might be able to get your hands in and work the dough together there; otherwise, dump all the flour bits on the counter and do so there.

Wrap the dough up tightly in a large piece of plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge at least 1 hour for a halved dough and 2 hours for a full one before rolling it out. *This recipe makes 2 pie crusts, I usually just freeze my second one for later use*

When you're ready to make your pie, dust your counter generously with flour, place your piece of dough on it, sprinkle the top with additional flour, and begin to roll it out into a large round.  I like to keep the pie dough moving it all times, rolling it twice, life it, and rotating it a quarter turn, repeating until its' the desired size and shape.  Keep a bench scraper or long thin spatula handy and if the dough ever stick to the counter, shimmy the spatula underneath and lift the dough enough that you can dust the counter with more flour.  If the pie dough becomes soft, it will be harder to roll, more likely to sick and to break up those flake-inducing bits of butter-don't even try to fight it.  Just slide the dough onto the back of a baking sheet and into the freezer for a few minutes until it firms up again.

Place the pie dough into your pie pan, poke holes in the bottom of the dough to allow air flow so it doesn't "puff up" while baking.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, allow crust to cool completely before adding the chocolate filling!! This is VERY important!!

Chocolate Silk Pie

12 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (I use a 60% cocoa bar), melted and cooled
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Garnish:

1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. sugar

In a large stand mixer, whip butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.  While mixer in running, drizzle in melted chocolate.  Add eggs one at a time, beating mixture at medium speed for 5 minutes after each addition, and scraping down the bowl.  Add vanilla, and blend well.  Spread chocolate filling in prepared crust, and smooth the top. Set pie in the fridge until fully chilled, at least 6 hours.

Just before serving, beat cream with sugar until it just holds soft peaks.  Spoon onto pie and serve!

You can see the silky goodness!

*Pie crust recipe and Chocolate Silk filling recipe are from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook