Chocolate cream pie was always my dad's favorite dessert. This year for Father's Day, we decided to celebrate my dad since my kids were not here and my sister's kids were not here. However, my other sister and her husband were visiting from Colorado and her son lives here so she was the lucky one. My brother and his wife also were visiting from Idaho so four of the seven children were here to honor my dad on Father's Day and that's just what we did. Below are all of us in 1979; my mom and dad and the five girls and two boys.
My dad was always so proud of all of us and we all wanted to make him proud, too, and with no strings attached. We talk about that often, even to this day, about how we all turned out to be fairly well adjusted people even though our parents were not strict parents at all. The fact that we survive our wild years of youth all in one piece is amazing! We're old now (boo hoo) but still in one piece aside from a few joint replacements here and there but we all genuinely still care about each other and we've always been there for each other throughout our lives. Even the spouse-in-laws like each other so that's a plus, too. My parents have since passed away but us siblings are still going strong. We still manage to stay in touch with each other even though most of us live in different cities. Family is a strong bond and ours is no exception. Of course, some of us are closer than others which is normal but we know how fortunate we are that we all get along so well. Thank you, Daddy, for all your unconditional love you showered upon us during our whole lives. You definitely left your mark on us. We talked a lot about my dad this Father's Day. We made all his favorite foods including a barbecued turkey that he loved to make in the summer in the backyard. It would rotate on the rotisserie all day. You can see the turkey in the photo below after he just took it off the rotisserie. (He's holding toddler, Nick, so this was about 1989.)
We loved that barbecued turkey! We now barbecue our turkey on Thanksgiving the way I explain it here but summer is also a great time to barbecue one so we did and it turned out spectualar.
For dessert, I made his favorite chocolate cream pie which was even more spectacular!
I decided to include the recipe here because the other version I have is for a dessert I made for Easter where I made individual chocolate cream pie is jars here. This is the same recipe except in a pie shell. I also made a regular crust instead of a graham cracker crust just because I like regular crust better but you can make either one depending on your preference.
Thank you, Daddy, for all your favorite foods. Our dinner turned out wonderful with your barbecued turkey along with the summer sides of baked beans, macaroni salad, a greek salad, corn salad, fresh friut and chocolate cream pie. We had a wonderful Father's Day in honor of you. We will never forget you and love you always.
Makes 1 pie
1-1/4 cups flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
4-6 Tbsp. ice water
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
1. Process the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor until combined. Scatter the shortening over the top and continue to process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the top and, using short pulses, process the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Sprinkle 4 Tbsp. of the ice water over the mixture. Stir and press the dough together, using a stiff rubber spatula, until the dough sticks together. If the dough does not come together, stir in the remaining water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until it does. Form the dough into a 4-inch disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
3. Let the chilled dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it into a 12-inch circle and fitting it into a 9" pie plate so it extends slightly beyond edge of pie pan. Trim, fold, and crimp the edges.
5. Line pie shell with a round of parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans.
6. Bake until edges of crust just turn golden, 25-30 minutes. Remove pie weights and parchment. Return crust to oven and continue baking until golden all over, 20-25 minutes more. You can cover the edges of the pie crust just to be sure it doesn't get too dark. Place pie shell on a wire rack to cool completely.
3/4 cup sugar
5 extra-large egg yolks
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 tsp. kosher salt
4 cups whole milk, scalded
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped or bittersweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, diced
1 Tbsp. coffee liqueur
1 tsp. instant coffee powder
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch and salt
2. With mixer on low, slowly add the scalded milk until the mixture is combined.
3. Pour the mixture into a large saucepan and cook over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is very thick.
4. Off the heat, add the chocolate, butter, coffee liqueur and coffee powder and stir until the chocolate is melted.
5. Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust and smooth the top.
6. Place plastic wrap directly on top of the chocolate filling and chill for 6 hours or overnight.
7. After chilling the chocolate filling, make whipped cream by placing the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat until the cream forms firm peaks. Spoon the whipped cream on top of the pie filling and gently spread with a spatula.
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