The Pie of My Dreams

I am a bit obsessed with Nora Ephron's movie Julie & Julia. It's almost embarrassing the number of times I've watched it since Thanksgiving. I never get tired of it, rather, I genuinely laugh at the funny parts, choke up at the sentimental parts, and, of course, salivate at the numerous food parts EVERY TIME I WATCH IT. To me its not surprising that I've taken to the movie so whole-heartedly. I must say, I've become quite the amateur little foodie, being that as a new wife I have cooked ten times more in the past year than I have in my entire life. Brent comments about three times a week that I sure do like to try new recipes! And I do! And actually, so far, of all the sources I've found for recipes, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a sure fire way to get a delicious dish even from your own kitchen (as long as you are patient to follow all of her explicit instructions).

I could go on and on about how much I love Julia Child's cookbook, but that's not what this post is about.

About a week ago it was time for me to do some work around the house, and one of the cool things I've picked up from my husband is to put a well-known movie on while doing housework...it makes the work all around more enjoyable. Anyways, I picked none other than Julie & Julia, and chose a route I had not taken before: I watched the commentary. I was washing dishes, I believe, at the part where Julie makes that fantastically smooth and rich-looking chocolate cream pie, and Ephron's comment was that the pie in the movie was HER OWN personal recipe! That day I searched online for her recipe, and found a fellow foodie-blogger who had tried and posted the recipe herself. I made it for a dinner party Brent and I had with our dear friends, Ben and Masha, last Friday. Hit, hit, hit, hit, hit. It was a hit. Especially the graham cracker crust...to some people. To me, the "hit" part of it was the rich chocolate cream filling. The chocolate cream pies I've tried before are good, but taste like milk chocolate. This one tastes like dark chocolate, the epitome of all chocolate tastes for chocolate-lovers around the world.

The Pie.

A satisfied girl content with the apparent success of her pie.

The recipe for the crust worked so well. I attempted my first graham cracker crust for a pumpkin icebox cake for Thanksgiving, and that particular recipe for crust from a Martha Stewart magazine did not bode well. Instead of crisping against the sides of the pie plate, it sludged down to the bottom of it, and responded to the heat of the oven like Yellowstone's paint pots. Too much butter, as I discovered later when I tried Ephron's recipe and it worked. In hindsight I should have kept the crust in the oven longer than I did, but I think my excitement that the crust was actually cooking in the right shape made me a little impulsive and I snatched it out of the oven before it was time. Nevertheless, the crust was buttery and rich and yummy. Though in my opinion, the dark chocolately-cream filling outshone the crust.

Without further ado, the recipe, copied word for word from www.sleeplessfoodie.com (the picture is Brent's, though).

Nora Ephron’s Chocolate Cream Pie

Makes 6-8 servings

For the crust:
6 tablespoons butter
11/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar

For the filling:
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, in pieces (I used Scharffen Berger)
4 slightly beaten egg yolks
2 tablespoons soft butter
1 tablespoon vanilla

For the whipped topping:
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons sugar

Make the pie crust:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
3. Combine the graham cracker crumbs and the sugar. Add the butter and stir to blend.
4. Press the mixture into a pie plate and prebake for 8-10 minutes. Cool thoroughly before filling.
Make the filling:
1. Mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt and set aside.
2. Bring the milk to a boil. Lower the heat and stir in the chocolate and let melt.
3. Whisk the milk mixture into the sugar mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until it starts to thicken.
4. Add the yolks and stir furiously for a very short time. You want the yolks to thicken the mixture even more but you don’t want them to curdle like little tiny scrambled eggs. Sometimes I do this for only 30 seconds or so.
5. Remove from the heat and stir more. Add vanilla and softened butter. Cover with waxed paper and cool.
“By the way,” Ephron says, “if the eggs do curdle, pour the pudding mixture through a sieve and throw away all the curdled bits. No one will know.”

[Hayley's interjection: Using a double boiler makes this part a cinch. No worrying about regulation of temperature or anything. Just get the water in the bottom boiling, turn the heat down to medium or medium-low, and the eggs will do fine as long as you stir continuously.]

6. Fill crust with pudding and refrigerate.
Make the whipped topping:
1. Whip cream until almost stiff. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until cream holds peaks. Spread on pie.
- Courtesy of Nora Ephron

Enjoy it, and let me know what you think!!