I Think I've Got It
Nov. 23rd, 2007 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omorkaIn the long ago and far away, my mother used to make a pie that she called a French Silk Chocolate Pie on occasions, usually events like my father's birthday or Valentine's Day. It was a plain pie shell filled with a rich, silky, heavy chocolate filling. I have since been told that a proper French Silk is correctly filled with something more like a chocolate mousse, so this really isn't one. The recipe was taken from a "best of the bake-off" collection, I think from Pillsbury, I think from the very early '60s. The original recipe, which I peeked at, topped the chocolate with a layer of whipped cream and a dusting of milk chocolate shavings over the top; my mother was more likely to top it with a sprinkling of toasted chopped pecans and then add a spoonful of chantilly cream at the table.
I made her version once or twice after moving away, but it doesn't actually fill a 9" pie plate (I guess my mother must have used an 8" one), and something about the texture seemed lacking (I never did figure that out). Several years after establishing my own kitchen, and after the fire, I obtained a copy of the Fannie Farmer Baking Book (an utter necessity for anyone who really enjoys baking, and a good investment if you don't enjoy it yet, but you'd like to). It has a recipe for a Chocolate Frangoa Pie that looked . . . remarkably similar. It made enough to fill a 9" or 10" pie plate, and the texture was, while not quite the same as my mother's, actually an improvement as far as I was concerned. The problem with this one was that it was far too sweet, so sweet it interfered with the chocolate's flavor. It used a great deal of powdered sugar, and bittersweet chocolate besides.
The final ingredient was the stand mixer. It's much easier to beat the filling long enough to get the texture right without using powdered sugar if you don't have to hold the mixer the whole time. I've been titrating between the two recipes for several years, and I think I have a good balance now. Yesterday's came out just about right. So I offer:
Southern Silk Chocolate Pie:
1 plain pie shell, 9" or 10"
1 cup (2 sticks) salted* butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (use superfine if you've got it)
1 1/2 t vanilla extract (do not use the fake stuff)
4 fresh large eggs
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
* If you only keep unsalted butter around the house, add 1/2 t of salt to the recipe with the sugar; you really do need it to offset the sweet and the bitter. Do not use oleomargarine; it won't set right if you do.
Make your pie shell using your favorite plain pie pastry recipe (I usually use the one from Fannie Farmer, which flakes nicely, but if you can't handle cutting in shortening or if even a trace of trans fats will kill you, there's a fast one given below; please, please don't use a pre-bought crust for this, it'd break my heart), flute a high edge on it, and bake it blind until it's just barely turning brown (usually about 15 minutes), in your usual fashion. You want it set and crisp, but that's it. Let it cool at least 30 minute before adding the filling.
Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and cream together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add one egg, and mix on medium-high speed for 1 minute. Repeat for the second and third eggs, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each egg. Add the final egg and mix on medium-high speed for 3 minutes. Check to make sure you cannot see any visible grains of sugar; if you still can, mix for another 2 minutes.
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the butter-egg mixture; try not to get any on the sides of the bowl, as you don't want it cooling and congealing before it's mixed in. Fold in on medium-low speed, stop the mixer, scrape down the sides, and mix for 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
Pour the filling into the cooked and cooled crust and spread it evenly with a rubber or silicone spatula, making sure there are no air pockets. Chill for a minimum of 3 hours; overnight is better.
Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving. Cut into slices with a thin, sharp knife. Garnish each slice with lightly sweetened whipped cream (absolutely necessary) and chopped toasted pecans or dark chocolate slivers (optional).
The usual disclaimers about eating mousse/filling with raw eggs apply, but if you get good eggs from a reputable supplier and they're fresh, I honestly doubt you'll have a problem - there's enough sugar in there to kill just about anything.
The World's Easiest Pie Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 cup corn oil, canola oil, or sunflower oil
2-4 tablespoons cold water (drop an ice cube into the cup)
Measure the flour and salt into the sifter and sift together into a medium mixing bowl. Measure out the oil. Start stirring the flour with a fork with your dominant hand. Dribble the oil in a thin, uneven stream over the flour with your off hand while continuing to stir with the other, until you're out of oil. Immediately stop stirring. Sprinkle one T of cold water over the flour mixture and toss with the fork until blended. Add another T of cold water and mix. If the dough starts to hang together, go ahead and pat it into a ball; if it doesn't, keep adding water by the tablespoon until it does, up to 4 tablespoons (don't use any more than that). Pat the dough into a ball and roll out between two sheets of waxed paper to make a crust for a 9" or 10" pie pan.
If baking blind, prick all over with a fork and press an 8" circle of foil into the bottom. Bake at 425° F for 6 minutes; remove the foil and bake for another 10. Remove and let cool.
This obviously doesn't make a very flaky pastry - it's the bits of solid fat cut into the flour that make a pastry flake - but it's very fast, tender, and fairly crisp. (I've seen one variation that uses milk instead of water. Don't. You don't want to develop the protein that's already in the flour, much less add more.)
I made her version once or twice after moving away, but it doesn't actually fill a 9" pie plate (I guess my mother must have used an 8" one), and something about the texture seemed lacking (I never did figure that out). Several years after establishing my own kitchen, and after the fire, I obtained a copy of the Fannie Farmer Baking Book (an utter necessity for anyone who really enjoys baking, and a good investment if you don't enjoy it yet, but you'd like to). It has a recipe for a Chocolate Frangoa Pie that looked . . . remarkably similar. It made enough to fill a 9" or 10" pie plate, and the texture was, while not quite the same as my mother's, actually an improvement as far as I was concerned. The problem with this one was that it was far too sweet, so sweet it interfered with the chocolate's flavor. It used a great deal of powdered sugar, and bittersweet chocolate besides.
The final ingredient was the stand mixer. It's much easier to beat the filling long enough to get the texture right without using powdered sugar if you don't have to hold the mixer the whole time. I've been titrating between the two recipes for several years, and I think I have a good balance now. Yesterday's came out just about right. So I offer:
Southern Silk Chocolate Pie:
1 plain pie shell, 9" or 10"
1 cup (2 sticks) salted* butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (use superfine if you've got it)
1 1/2 t vanilla extract (do not use the fake stuff)
4 fresh large eggs
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
* If you only keep unsalted butter around the house, add 1/2 t of salt to the recipe with the sugar; you really do need it to offset the sweet and the bitter. Do not use oleomargarine; it won't set right if you do.
Make your pie shell using your favorite plain pie pastry recipe (I usually use the one from Fannie Farmer, which flakes nicely, but if you can't handle cutting in shortening or if even a trace of trans fats will kill you, there's a fast one given below; please, please don't use a pre-bought crust for this, it'd break my heart), flute a high edge on it, and bake it blind until it's just barely turning brown (usually about 15 minutes), in your usual fashion. You want it set and crisp, but that's it. Let it cool at least 30 minute before adding the filling.
Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and cream together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add one egg, and mix on medium-high speed for 1 minute. Repeat for the second and third eggs, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each egg. Add the final egg and mix on medium-high speed for 3 minutes. Check to make sure you cannot see any visible grains of sugar; if you still can, mix for another 2 minutes.
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the butter-egg mixture; try not to get any on the sides of the bowl, as you don't want it cooling and congealing before it's mixed in. Fold in on medium-low speed, stop the mixer, scrape down the sides, and mix for 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
Pour the filling into the cooked and cooled crust and spread it evenly with a rubber or silicone spatula, making sure there are no air pockets. Chill for a minimum of 3 hours; overnight is better.
Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving. Cut into slices with a thin, sharp knife. Garnish each slice with lightly sweetened whipped cream (absolutely necessary) and chopped toasted pecans or dark chocolate slivers (optional).
The usual disclaimers about eating mousse/filling with raw eggs apply, but if you get good eggs from a reputable supplier and they're fresh, I honestly doubt you'll have a problem - there's enough sugar in there to kill just about anything.
The World's Easiest Pie Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 cup corn oil, canola oil, or sunflower oil
2-4 tablespoons cold water (drop an ice cube into the cup)
Measure the flour and salt into the sifter and sift together into a medium mixing bowl. Measure out the oil. Start stirring the flour with a fork with your dominant hand. Dribble the oil in a thin, uneven stream over the flour with your off hand while continuing to stir with the other, until you're out of oil. Immediately stop stirring. Sprinkle one T of cold water over the flour mixture and toss with the fork until blended. Add another T of cold water and mix. If the dough starts to hang together, go ahead and pat it into a ball; if it doesn't, keep adding water by the tablespoon until it does, up to 4 tablespoons (don't use any more than that). Pat the dough into a ball and roll out between two sheets of waxed paper to make a crust for a 9" or 10" pie pan.
If baking blind, prick all over with a fork and press an 8" circle of foil into the bottom. Bake at 425° F for 6 minutes; remove the foil and bake for another 10. Remove and let cool.
This obviously doesn't make a very flaky pastry - it's the bits of solid fat cut into the flour that make a pastry flake - but it's very fast, tender, and fairly crisp. (I've seen one variation that uses milk instead of water. Don't. You don't want to develop the protein that's already in the flour, much less add more.)
