Chocolate Cream Pie

This is my favorite summertime dessert because it is cold and refreshing with a milk chocolatey taste. I make this pie at least once every summer and I love to make it for company. Invariably, someone will remark that it tastes exactly like what they used to have as a child when they were at the country club where they were spending their long days of summer.

One summer we decided that we needed to have a taste test and see if the pie was better with dutch processed cocoa or Hershey's cocoa. My friends that were born and raised in Ireland were over and were boasting that they would prefer the dutch processed one and would certainly be able to tell the difference. Everyone preferred the one made with the Hershey's cocoa and no one could tell which one was which, only that they tasted a bit different. I love having taste tests!

The pie crust I am using is my favorite for all my pies, not just cream pies but fruit pies too! I was on the hunt for a pie crust that doesn't use shortening and I ended up down the street at my friend Pam's house. I explained what I was searching for and her mother (Betty) suggested I use her recipe, I did and have loved it ever since. It makes enough for a bottom of a deep dish pie or a top and bottom for a regular pie.

Pie Crust

2 C flour
1/2 t salt
2/3 C unsalted butter
2 t sugar
1 egg yolk
3-4 T cold water
Cut the cold butter into cubes. Mix together the flour and salt. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingers until it looks like crumbs and feels like wet sand. Make a well in the center and add the sugar and egg yolk and start with 1 T water mixing with your hands to form a ball. Add more water as needed but use as little as possible to form the ball. Press into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface forming a circle to fit your pie pan about 1/8 inch thick. Place in pie pan with a little over hang to flute the edges. Place in the refrigerator and chill again so that the dough can relax and not shrink so much when baking.

Prick the pie shell with a fork. Place parchment paper in the pie shell and then place another pan on top to keep the pie shell from shrinking. Bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes then take out the extra pan and continue baking for 5 more minutes until golden brown.

Let the crust cool.

Pie Filling- I found this recipe 30 yrs. ago in a southern living magazine.
1 C sugar
1/4 C cocoa
1/4 C corn starch
Pinch of salt
3 C milk
3 egg yolks
1 1/4 t vanilla
1 C whipping cream for whipped topping
1/4 C powdered sugar
1 t vanilla

Combine first 4 ingredients in a heavy sauce pan. Combine milk and egg yolks, beating together, then gradually whisk into dry ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens and boils. Boil for 1 minute while stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla ( you can also add chocolate liqueur, a couple of tablespoons). Immediately pour into pie shell. Cover with waxed paper to prevent a skin from forming. Cool 30 minutes then place int the refrigerator to chill completely.
Beat whipping cream with powdered sugar and 1 t vanilla until soft peaks form. Spoon whipped cream over pie.