CHOCOLATE SUPREME PIE

 Any time I see a recipe that says chocolate in the title, it is almost impossible for me to not stop and check it out. I especially like if I can remake it and reduce the calories a lot. 

When I was looking through my cookbook called Given to Hospitality II , another collection of recipes from the ladies of the Ozark Mennonite Church and School, it didn't take me long to see that I could make it completely "sugar-free" except for the crust. That meant it would definitely be a keeper for me to make especially for us.

I know "sugar-free" doesn't mean "calorie-free", but you gotta eat something. Right? We have been trying to eat less sugar for many years. We occasionally splurge but we try not to do it too often. We also reduce the fat when we can. I almost always substitute 1/3 less less fat Neufchatel cheese for traditional cream cheese. When a recipe calls for milk, I always use fat-free milk. I do use sugar-free whipped topping instead of fat free because the fat-free topping contains high-fructose corn syrup and the sugar-free one doesn't.

CHOCOLATE SUPREME PIE

1      graham cracker crust (I used a ready-to-use pecan pie crust)

*     *     *     *

6      ounces cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 less fat Neufchatel cheese)

3/4   cup powdered sugar

1/4   cup chopped pecans 

*     *     *     *

1/3   cup instant chocolate pudding

1/4   cup instant vanilla pudding

2      cups cold milk

3/4   teaspoon vanilla

*     *     *     *     *

1/2   cup whipping cream, whipped or about 2 cup of whipped topping

extra pecans for top (I grated some chocolate on top instead)

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until

smooth.

Spread on the bottom of the crust.

Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Set aside.

Measure out the amounts of pudding from a 3.9 oz box of instant pudding. In another bowl, combine the pudding mixes, milk, and vanilla. Beat on low for 2 minutes. (Tip: gradually sprinkle the pudding mix in the milk. I added all of the amounts of pudding mix at once to the milk and I had all of these very small soft lumps that didn't ruin the taste or actually the finished look. It just didn't look good while I was making it.)

Spoon over pecans and smooth out.

Cover. Refrigerate for 2 hours. (I made the pie up to this point the night before we ate some so I left it in the refrigerator overnight.)

Remove from refrigerator and

top with whipped topping.

Sprinkle the pecans on top or grate some chocolate on top. I grated the chocolate instead of sprinkling additional pecans on top since I had used the pecan pie crust. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Store leftovers in refrigerator. 

   

Oh my gosh! It was so good! Especially with the pecan crust. The cookbook says you can also use a regular pie crust, baked. That would reduce my sugar content even more. Yay.

P.S. I combined the rest of the pudding mixes and gradually added enough milk to just make some pudding for us to eat.