Yield: 12 Servings

Ingredients

25cm tart shell, pre-baked

250g light cream

200g bittersweet chocolate

50g butter, room temperature

Melt chocolate.  Heat cream to boiling point.  Slowly whisk hot cream into melted chocolate.  When cream has been completely incorporated into the chocolate, whisk in the butter.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the tart shell.  Chill for at least 4 hours.

Serve at room temperature.

Tags: pie, tart

Tags: crust, pie, pie crust, tart, tart crust

Many years ago my mother used to make an incredible chocolate pie.

It had two layers; the bottom layer may have been cream cheese (I’m not sure, it’s been more than twenty years since I last had it), and the top layer was a chocolate mixture (maybe pudding).

The thing I remember most is the crust; it was made with crushed pecans, and she had to bake it separately before adding the filling.

She used to make extra cash by making several of these pies and selling them to a local restaurant.

I asked her to make it on a recent visit and she told me that she couldn’t; it had been so long since she made it that she had forgotten the recipe and could not find the written version.

So I am asking for your help.  Does anyone know of a recipe similar to what I have described?

Tags: crust, pecan crust, pie

I was working on a large IT project in Atlanta, USA during the fall of 1993. There were several contractors from all over the world there. One was a lovely young lady named Els de Decker. She was from Belgium. One day we were chatting and I asked her what did she think of the US.

“I love it here” she said. “But there is something that I miss.”

I asked, “What?”

“Chocolate. Good chocolate. I hate to say it, but the stuff you have here is horrible”, she explained.

“Have you tried Hershey’s?”, I responded.

She laughed, “That garbage is inedible!” She continued “I’m going home in a couple of weeks. When I return, I’m going to bring some European chocolate.

When she returned, true to her word, she had a large box of chocolate. I’ll never forget it; it was Guy Lian. What struck me most was the appearance. The candy looked like pieces of art. I didn’t know whether I should eat it, or photograph it.

I decided to try a piece. The earth moved! “This is the most delicious chocolate I have ever tasted!”, I exclaimed.

Els laughed. “This is “ordinary” chocolate, nothing special. I picked this up at a grocery store.”

I was flabbergasted. I wondered, “If this is ordinary, what does the good stuff taste like?” I came to the conclusion that Els was right, our chocolate is horrible!

I continued eating until I ate half of the box! My co-workers gave me nasty looks, but I couldn’t stop! It was so good! It totally changed my idea of “good” chocolate.

Thank you Els, for enlightening me about chocolate!

Tags: pie