Cinnamon Chocolate Pie
Submitted by msshina
Rich chocolate cream pie with a hint of cinnamon, cooked slow in a double boiler and crowned with golden meringue. Old-fashioned diner-style pie from scratch.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
30 minREADY
60 minThis is the kind of pie that belonged under a glass dome at a roadside diner counter, waiting to be sliced for someone who knew to order it.
A thick, velvety chocolate filling gets cooked low and slow in a double boiler with cocoa, cornstarch, egg yolks, and just enough cinnamon to give it a warm, spiced edge you can’t quite place but can’t stop eating.
Poured into a pre-baked shell and topped with a cloud of golden meringue, it’s chocolate cream pie with old-fashioned soul.
Chef Tips
- Cook the filling over hot water, never boiling. Too much heat will scramble the egg yolks and leave you with a grainy texture.
- Temper the yolks by stirring a spoonful of the hot mixture into them first. Dumping cold yolks into a hot pot is a recipe for curdling.
- Spread the meringue all the way to the crust edges to seal it. Gaps let the meringue shrink and weep during baking.
- Let the filling cool before pouring it into the shell. Hot filling on a pre-baked crust turns it soggy.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 300℉ (150℃).
Combine ½ cup of the sugar with the salt, cinnamon, cornstarch and cocoa in the top of a double boiler.
Blend in the cold milk.
Stir in the hot milk and cook over hot water until thick, about three to five minutes, stirring constantly.
Cover and continue cooking until very thick, about eight minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the butter.
Beat the egg yolks lightly and blend them with the remaining ½ cup sugar.
Add a little of the hot mixture, then stir into the remianing hot mixture.
Cook, uncovered, over hot (not boiling) water until very thick, about ten minutes.
Add the vanilla. Cool.
Turn the mixture into the baked pie shell.
Top with meringe and bake twenty minutes.
MERINGUE: Combine three egg whites with ⅛ teaspoon salt and beat until the whites stand in soft peaks.
Beat in four tablespoons sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until stiff.
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