Smoother than Silk

We had a group of guys over to play games last night. I was wondering what to make since they are coming over after dinner. It is pretty hard to make a manly dessert. Let's face it, dessert was made for women! But thankfully, men will eat anything! So I decided to make a French Silk pie.


Interesting enough, French silk pie did not come from France. It is strictly American and came from the South. Hard to say who invented it. But it is heavenly for sure. I am surprised the French didn't already come up with something like that.

For the crust:
8 oz chocolate wafers (Oreos are fine without cream in the middle)
1/2 stick of melted butter (1/4 cup)

Traditionally, French silk pie is made with a graham cracker crust. But I made mine with a chocolate crust just because you can never have too much chocolate in one dessert. So for the crust, I put 8 oz of chocolate wafers in the food processor with half a stick of melter butter. After the wafers are all pulsed, press the mixture into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 375 degree for 10 minutes then cool completely.

The filling:
3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
4 oz bitter sweet chocolate morsels
1 stick butter
1 cup whipping cream

For the filling, originally, eggs were used without being cooked. I am sure most of us are sketched out by that idea. So I cook my eggs over a double boiler. Bring some water to a simmer in a sauce pan and put a heat proof bowl on top of the pan, be careful not to let the bowl touch the simmering water. Put 3 eggs and 1/3 cup sugar in the bowl and whip with a hand mixer on medium.

My hand mixer broke a while ago and I've been just fine without one thanks to my stand mixer. But I can't quite use my stand mixer for this task. My husband got creative (he's extremely good at that) and attached a whisk to his electric screw driver and voila, I have a hand mixer (entirely too heavy and way too much power for whipping a few eggs) that works wonders.

Back to the pie filling, whip your egg mixture in the double boiler for about 10 minutes until it double in volume and the temperature gets to 160. Take the bowl off heat and continue to whisk while adding 4 oz of bittersweet chocolate morsels a table spoon at a time. The egg will subside as you add the chocolate. After the chocolate is incorporated, add 1 stick of butter in small cubes and whip. You should add one cube at a time and let the butter be whipped into the egg and chocolate mixture instead of melted it. This will help thicken the filling and keep it light.

Whip 1 cup of whipping cream and fold into the egg mixture. Folding will keep the volume of the whipped cream keeps your pie filling lighter than air. Spread the mixture onto cool crust and let chill for a few hours until the filling set. It takes no time at all with the eggs and whipped butter.

After the filling is set, whip 1 cup of whipping cream and spread over the top of the pie filling. I prefer whipping my own cream over cool whip because it is more stable and a lot creamier without any artificial flavoring that cool whip has (I think if you have read the label on a tub of Cool Whip you'd agree with me). Garnish with a few chocolate curls or chocolate shaving. Chill until you are ready to serve. The pie did not last very long last night. I am glad I sneaked a picture before it was devoured. It is truly smoother than silk!!