CHOCOLATE CHESS PIE

We like to go to Golden Corral (Buffet) because Wayne likes to "eat healthy" by eating a lot of vegetables. He won't say it is so he can get dessert too, but he always does. More than one, often. 

One dessert I really love is a chocolate pie they have often, not every time we go, but often. Earlier this year, I talked Wayne to try it and he did and he asked our server if they sold whole pies. That's how much he liked it. Thus ended a conversation with him and our server re the best way to buy it. We didn't buy it, but I decided to more diligently search for a recipe that I thought might be a copy of it.

I found a recipe that I thought might work and copied down on an envelop  (a family trait when you find a recipe you want to try and it's never a new one - always used and torn) but just didn't get around to trying it. That is until earlier this week.

I made the pie Monday and then took it on Tuesday afternoon to the canasta group for dessert. It might not have looked good (I just always have problems with pie crusts "drawing up" when they bake. I pie the rolled ones that claim to bake a 9 - inch pie crust, but they never bake nice and evenly. That's why next time I am going to try using a graham cracker crust. They always work out.) but everyone thought it was delicious. Friend Janice even said she liked it better than Golden Corral's pie. 

Well, if you have never been to Golden Corral or just never had the chocolate pie, you will have to trust me and make this one and then you will know why I am so excited to have found this recipe.

                   

                     

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CHOCOLATE CHESS PIE

1-1/2    cups sugar

4          tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Special Dark Cocoa)

2          eggs, lightly beaten

2/3       cup evaporated milk

1          teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

4          tablespoons butter, melted

1          9 - inch pie crust, uncooked or graham cracker crust

whipped cream or Cool Whip for serving

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together the sugar and cocoa in a large bowl until well blended. Set aside.

Combine the beaten eggs, milk, vanilla, salt, and butter in a smaller bowl. Mix well with a whisk.

Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and

mix well with a whisk.

Pour crust into pie crust.

Bake approximately 45 minutes. The center should have a little jiggle. (I baked mine 40 minutes and the "center" that jiggled was larger than I wanted. I returned the pie to the oven, set the timer for 5 more minutes, but turned the oven off. The pie looked a little dark like maybe it burned, but that's just because I used Special Dark Cocoa.)

Cool the pie on a wire rack completely. Chill before serving.

(I baked mine a day before and then added the whipped topping before serving the next afternoon.)

Update:

I made the recipe again for pi day. I used a graham cracker crust and regular cocoa and not special dark.

 

SOUTHERN CHOCOLATE PIE

 

I have had this recipe for at least forty years. I didn't write a date on the recipe card as I commonly did back then so I don't know if I ever actually made it or not. I sorta made up for that though as I made it twice this weekend.

Our neighbors in the last few years have been very generous in taking care of us which we really appreciate. We have a snow blower that our son Patrick gave us maybe ten years ago but Wayne hasn't used it but a couple of times if that many. We don't need to since neighbors will be out there clearing our driveway and sidewalk for us. Did I mention we have the longest driveway on our street because it goes the length of the house and back around the back to get into our garage. We call the area behind our house the parking lot because if you tried you could probably park six cars back there. We pay a teen in the neighborhood to mow our yard but I'm sure if we didn't one of our neighbors would mow at least the front yard. They are just really awesome neighbors.

They will never take money so I bake for them. Peter on our left loves chocolate so I thought I would bake him a chocolate pie. His favorite is French Silk but I hesitate making one of those. I recently ran across this recipe for Southern Chocolate Pie when I was looking for something else with my recipe cards. I checked to make sure they liked coconut first since I know some people just don't like the texture of coconut.

I had bought some "deep dish" frozen pie crusts recently and since the recipe indicated you needed a pie shell with a high rim, I thought they would be perfect. (There were two in the package so I planned to make their pie first on Saturday and then make one for us on Sunday afternoon.) My plans changed though after I got started because the "deep dish" pie crust I bought turned out to be not deep enough and the foil pan was too flimsy. Trying to lift the pie crust after I had poured the mixture into it onto the cookie sheet, I first spilled some of the mixture over one side. After I got it settled on the sheet, I ended up removing at least half a cup of the mixture because I knew I didn't have enough room to add the coconut and pecans and I felt like it would bake over the side. To make matters worse when I was trying to place everything in the oven, I didn't hold the cookie sheet level and more of the filling ran over the other side. 

We ended up keeping that one for us and I tried again on Sunday but instead of using the not-so-deep Deep Dish pie crust, I used a pie plate I have that is deep dish. I also used a rolled up pie crust you can purchase. The only thing with using them in a deep dish pan, the circle isn't big enough to make an edge around the pie. That actually was fine with me because the edge always breaks away with me when I go to serve a pie.

The end result for Sunday's attempt was perfect and so pretty. I let the pie cool for one hour and then we took it over to them before it got dark. I told them the good news was the pie looked so pretty and the bad news was they would have to wait until Monday to eat it because it still needed 3 hours to cool before cutting. That didn't go over very well with them, but fortunately Colti was making some brownies because they were craving something sweet so I told them they could enjoy the brownies and save the pie until tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Wayne and I have been enjoying the first pie I made on Saturday. Colti said someday she would learn to make a pie. I told her this one was a super easy one to start out on as it goes together so easily. I hope you will give it a try. Trust me! You won't be sorry. The first picture is of the second pie, but the pictures with the recipe are from Saturday's attempt.

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SOUTHERN CHOCOLATE PIE

1       pkg. (4 oz) German's Sweet Chocolate Bar

1/4    cup butter

1       can (12 oz) evaporated milk

1       cup sugar

3       eggs

1       teaspoon vanilla

1       unbaked 9 - inch deep dish pie shell with high rim

1-1/3 cups angel flake coconut

1/2     cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare pie crust, if necessary. Set aside. (I placed my pie crust on a large cookie sheet. This is especially necessary if you are using a premade crust in just a foil pan.)

Stir the chocolate bar and butter over low heat until melted and smooth.

Remove from heat.

Add the sugar and evaporated milk and stir until blended.

(Might need to use a whisk.)

Beat eggs and vanilla in another small bowl and

then add to chocolate mixture.

Stir or whisk until well blended.

Pour into pie crust. (You can see in this picture how high it was in the crust. This is before I removed a half cup of the filling.)

Here is a picture of the second attempt using my deep dish pie plate.

Sprinkle the coconut evenly over the top and

then sprinkle the chopped pecans.

Carefully place in the oven and bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until the top is puffed evenly. (Filling will set while cooling.) (The filling did not run over the sides as it baked, but I did feel better baking it on a cookie sheet.)

Cool for at least 4 hours. Store in the refrigerator.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PIE

 I think I have finally found a comparable Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie as with a local cafe that we eat at often serves. They chop up some Reese's peanut butter candy and places around the crust edge.

Friend Fran has started back hosting our quilters canasta group after dealing with some health issues. Since I have always made the dessert for her to serve us, that means I had the opportunity to make something truly awesome again for us to enjoy.

And I scored a big hit with this truly awesome Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. I found the recipe in my The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals cookbook by Phyllis Pellman Good and Louise Stoltzfus. Winnifred Wall from Freeman, South Dakota made a Peanut Butter Delight in a 9 x 13 - inch pan but I made a few changes and ended up with two 9 - inch pies. I served one and froze the other one. I also used Zero sugar products when I could and 1/3 less fat Neufchatel cheese. I do this often with great results.

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CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PIE

1/2    cup peanut butter

8       ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1        cup powdered sugar

1        cup whipped topping from an 8 - ounce carton

2      small packages of instant chocolate fudge or chocolate pudding + 1-3/4 cup milk for each package

1        cup of whipped topping for topping, if using

2       pie crust (9-inch baked or graham cracker crumb crust)

If using a regular pie crust, bake as directed and allow to cool.

 

Cream together the peanut butter and cream cheese

until smooth.

Add the powdered sugar and

mix together.

Fold in the cup of whipped topping.

Divide the mixture evenly and spread over the crust using.

Set aside.

Prepare the pudding mixes in separate bowls using 1-3/4 cup milk. Whisk until pudding thickens.

Top the creamed cheese mixture in each pie with a pudding.

Cover and refrigerate to firm up. I refrigerated mine overnight.

When ready to serve, top with the rest of the whipped topping.

I ended up freezing the one using the graham cracker crumbs. I covered it with the plastic lid that comes with the crust and closed it down all the way around. Then I wrapped the pie with two pieces of foil. It fit in a gallon freezer bag so I did that next. When I am ready to eat it, I will remove it from the freezer the night before and place in the refrigerator. I may or may not top it with whipped cream. I made one pie using a Zero sugar chocolate fudge instant pudding mix and then a Zero sugar chocolate instant pudding mix for the second one. We loved the chocolate fudge one so I hope we like the chocolate one too.

 

CRANBERRY PEAR PIE/CRUMBLE

 A  few years after we moved to Kansas City, we planted a pear tree in our back yard. My husband wanted a pear tree because he loves pears and, I think, because that was one of the fruit trees that we did not have in our yard in Ventura. I wanted anything but ... like a peach tree, or apple tree, or plum tree, anything but a pear. 

When I was growing up my Aunt Corine had a pear tree in her yard and Mother and my grandma made the best pear preserves, but that was it. I don't have a lot of recipe that use pears so it was not on my list of fruit trees I wanted in my yard. But we planted a pear tree.

I tired one year to make pear preserves like my mother did but they didn't look at all as pretty as hers. It was probably because they were different pears, but as far as I was concerned, the tree was even more my husband's tree than mine. 

He has made some pear preserves himself that he eats and I pretty much turned the tree and its fruit over to him. Now he picks them all and peels them all. We do give some to friends which helps because the tree of course produces a lots of pears.

Last year I gave some to our neighbors Sara and Syl and she made a delicious pie. She shared the recipe with me not the pie. 😊

This year I found a recipe that sounded really good and had him peel some pairs for me to use in the recipe. I made it for the canasta group. It had a really delicious taste, but it fell apart when I tried to dish it out of the pie plate. (see picture below) Well, since I don't really like to share recipes with you that have problems, I didn't share the recipe at that time. I told them I was going to make it again but in a deep dish and serve it out with a big spoon like you would a cobbler or crisp.

Well, it has taken me a few weeks to get around to doing that, but the tree had so many pears, he still hasn't gotten all of them off the tree. In fact he has spent a lot of time the last few days peeling and cutting them up into slices, quick freezing them, and then storing them in a gallon freezer bag to eat later fresh or in a recipe I might find. (Actually I can see me making this recipe again. We really like it.)

The pears are a little crunchy even after baking for 50 minutes but I like that and the tartness of the fresh (frozen) cranberries makes a total delight.

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CRANBERRY PEAR PIE/CRUMBLE

5     cups cored, thinly sliced pears

1     cup fresh cranberries (I use fresh cranberries that I have frozen)

1/2  cup maple syrup

2     tablespoons flour

2     tablespoons melted butter

1     pie crust

Crumble Topping

1/2   cup flour

1/4   cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1      teaspoon cinnamon

1/3   cup cold butter or margarine, cut into thin slices

1/2   cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cut a piece of the pie crust to fit in the bottom of a deep baking dish. (I used a 2 L size casserole dish that is about 8 inches square.)

 

Place in the bottom of the dish. If you are making a pie, use a 9 - inch pie plate.  Set aside.

Combine the pear, cranberries, and syrup in a large bowl.

Add the melted butter and

stir.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the flour over the top of the fruit and toss to coat. Then add the other tablespoon to top the fruit again and toss to coat. 

Transfer the mixture to the baking dish with a big spoon making sure the cranberries are spread around in the dish. (see the picture a few pictures down)

Make the crumb topping by first mixing the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Thinly slice the butter and break into smaller pieces and add to the dry ingredients a little at a time.

Cut in with your fingers or a pastry cutter.

Add the chopped walnuts.

Sprinkle/crumble the crumb topping over the fruit.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees without removing the dish and bake 35 minutes longer, until golden brown.

Let cool at least 1 hour before serving.

Hint...Since 5 cups of pear slices is a lot of slices, use a large bowl with cold water and lemon juice added...maybe a fourth of a cup, and the pear slices to it and leave until ready to mix them with the cranberries. This will keep them from turning brown. This works also with other fruit that will turn brown if left out like apples, peaches, bananas, etc.

Here what my pie looked like...