Chocolate Ganache Pie...

This is the first of 5 fabulous desserts for you and your Valentine...all this week I'm going to give you the best of the best...so make sure your Glucose Meters have new batteries - it's going to need 'em! 

Before I get to the first recipe, take a gander at the Land O'Lakes picture...when the mister saw this sitting on the counter, it triggered something in the deep recesses of his mind...so off he traipsed down memory lane - all the way back to 7th grade - where he and his buddies would take the Land O'Lakes cardboard butter package and make what they thought was a high-larious toy - for lack of a better word!  When folded just the right way, the knees of Pocahontas or whoever she is, become her breasts...and with a twist of the wrist her breasts move up and down...got to love 7th grade mentality!  Too bad the mister never out-grew it!   

The boy is a chocolate-cream-pie-guy...he can eat an entire pie in one sitting if no one stops him - this is the pie I usually make for the boy - it's easy and contains his three favorite foods, Hershey's Chocolate, Jello Pudding and Oreos.  Actually, he'll eat ANY chocolate cream pie without stopping to inhale so I would normally not waste a piece of THIS pie on him...except that he got wind of it - so I tried to impress upon him how different this pie was...it's a sophisticated pie...a pie worthy of savoring each bite...a pie that requires a sigh after each forkful...he said he got it...and after one bite, he gave me an obligatory sigh, and then he scarfed the rest up so fast I'm sure his tongue had whiplash!  

The pie crust is tender, flaky chocolate, almost like a chocolate wafer/cookie - it will melt in your mouth...the filling is a thick, chocolate-laden ganache...so rich, so smooth, so decadent...and so incredibly "French" that you'll be tempted to offer up every French word you know...delicieux, amour, fabuleux, je taime, tres magnifique...as a way of thanking the French Pastry Gods who dreamed this one up!   

I don't usually make (let alone post) Martha Stewart recipes because I find them to be overly complicated and the results are usually less than desirable...this recipe, however, is an exception...it's a keeper.  Make sure to cut small slivers of this pie - it's extremely rich - so little slices go a long way.

Chocolate Ganache Pie - Adapted from Martha Stewart

For the pastry:

cooking spray for pan

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for surface

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the Ganache filling:

10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Whipped topping:

2 cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup powdered sugar

chocolate shavings for topping, optional

Make the crust:  Coat 9-inch deep dish pie pan with cooking spray.  In medium bowl whisk together flour, cocoa and salt.  In the bowl of an electric mixer beat butter on medium until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 more minutes.  Reduce speed to low and add vanilla and flour mixture and mix until dough just begins to hold together, 1 to 2 minutes.  Turn out dough onto plastic wrap, form a ball without kneading, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Press dough into bottom of pie pan and up the sides.  Trim excess dough.  Refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 325 debrees.  Bake on a rimmed baking sheet until firm, about 25 minutes.  Let cool completely on wire rack before filling.

Make the ganache filling:  Place chocolate in a bowl.  Heat cream and milk in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until almost boiling; pour over chocolate.  Let stand for 2 minutes.  Slowly whisk until smooth.  Let stand 10 minutes more.  Stir in egg.  Return cooled crust to baking sheet and pour in filling.  Bake until just set, about 25 minutes.  Let cool completely.  Make whipped topping by beating heavy cream with beaters on high until soft peaks form.  On low speed add in vanilla and powdered sugar, continue beating on high speed until cream is whipped and holds stiff peaks. Top cooled pie with whipped cream.  Top whipped cream with chocolate shavings.  Serves 8. 

"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."  ~ Beverly Sills

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One year ago: Chicken Pot Pie With Biscuits

Two years ago:  Valentine's Party

Comments

[nanette]

The pie looks totally amazing. I remember boys doing that with the land o lakes girl when I was little. That was our brand of butter.

[Jessica23]

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[Deb Puterbaugh]

I had to chuckle when I read about the butter pkg.I had 3 brothers and that was their "trick" I always think of that when I see the box.But come on now, you tell me do those really look like knees to you the way the are done.It was probably of male macho stay at home women let put a joke or whatever in the art.Whomever did that artwork on that box has gotten a kick out of this and is probably well in retirement,or dead. I always wondered why they never change or updated the pkging.

[Chris]

Totally on the floor laughing over your hubby's trick. It reminds me of one we did with folding the dollar bill in just the right way to say....well, ask him, I'm sure he knows about the "knees of America" bill trick :)