Chocolate Mousse Pie

Hello out there all you dessert loving people. Who doesn't love a good chocolate mousse. You can use the mousse recipe from this and serve it alone in cups maybe with some whipped cream and or berries. The sky's the limit. I like the mousse alone but I love to make it as a pie. It is really simple to make and it is such a crowd pleaser.

There are a lot of mousse recipes that seem complicated and also involve folding in egg whites and whipped cream but this one is a lot easier than that and no raw egg!!!.

For the mousse: 2 1/2c heavy whipping cream (plus more for the topping) 1tbsp of vanilla and/or a vanilla bean, 2 eggs, 1/4c sugar, 1tsp salt 6oz (1c) of good chocolate chopped. I used a mix 2/3 c 60% cacao and 1/3 milk choc so it was a little creamier/sweeter. If you want to go that extra mile add about 1tbsp of instant coffee when you add the vanilla extract to deepen the chocolate flavor.

For the Crust: 1/2c Almond flour, 2 c all purpose flour, 3/4 c of butter grated and chilled, 1/2c shortening and 6-8 Tbsp of ice water- I take a bowl and put ice cubes and water in it that way it stays cold. You will also need parchment paper ( a big enough sheet that it will leave an overhang of a couple inches over the pie plate) and either pie weights, rice or beans (dry and uncooked).

FYI if you choose to make the pie crust included prepare for it to take a bit of time. I actually make the mousse a night ahead so it has time to sit and the flavors meld together and the crust also needs time to rest.

Put 1c of the heavy cream in a saucepan over med low to heat up. If you are using a vanilla bean, cut it in half, split it down the middle and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds and the pod to the cream. DO NOT BOIL OR SIMMER!!

In the bowl of your mixer (if you are doing this by hand put a towel under your bowl so it doesn't move) place the eggs, sugar and salt and beat with a whisk until it starts to thicken.

When the cream is hot, pour into the bowl of the egg and sugar mixture making sure you are beating at the same time. Make sure you pour it in as a slow steady stream so as not to curdle your eggs. Then pour the mixture back into the the saucepan over the med low heat and stir until thickened. It takes around 5 or 6 minutes or so. Make sure to continue stirring otherwise the mix will curdle. You will know it is thick enough when it can coat the back of a spoon.

Add in the chocolate and vanilla and stir until it is completely incorporated. Pour through a mesh strainer(to remove any lumps) into a bowl. Cover the bowl with cling wrap making sure the wrap touches the top of the custard so a skin does not form and put in the fridge to cool.

While the custard is cooling whipped the rest of the cream to stiff peaks. You can also cover and chill this while the chocolate custard mix cools down.

When the custard is cool take a little bit of the whipped cream and add it to the custard to lighten it up a bit then gently fold in the rest of the cream. I do half and then the second half. If you have never folded before it is actually pretty simple. Cut down the middle with your spatula and turn the mix back over the top. While turning the bowl in the opposite direction. When the cream is incorporated you can either spoon it into bowls to serve *after chilling a bit. Or you can cover and cool while you make the crust and topping.

I'm going for it and going straight up pie making this time.

FYI This recipe does take a bit of time so you can make the mousse ahead of time.

For the pie crust dough the little change I made is definitely the almond flour. I think it gives a little extra to the texture and flavor. Put the dry ingredients in a bowl. I mix the dough by hand using a fork as my mixer of choice. I just don't want to risk overmixing the crust. You can use a food processor if you like you will just have to pulse maybe about 4 times after each addition but be very careful to get it to where it just combines. You do not want to develop the gluten it will mess up the texture and make up of the crust.

If you go the way I choose add half the butter and stir it a little just to coat the butter a little with the four mixes. Then add the second half of the butter and mix it in with the fork it should look a little more like clumpy sand. Add the shortening and mix it around so it is more incorporated it should look like wet sand. Add the water in one Tbsp at a time mixing it in until it just starts to come together. Do not mix more than that. Turn the dough out onto a flat surface and gently form it into two evenly sized discs or do what I did and form it into and even rectangle. If it is a little crumbly that is ok the water in the dough will saturate through when it rests. Wrap the dough with cling wrap and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

After the dough has rested preheat the oven to 350.

If you are only making one pie (the mousse recipe only makes for one pie) use one disc or cut the rectangle in half and wrap the other half back up (or use it for something else.) You can freeze it to use later if you want. Roll out the dough on a floured surface (make sure to flour your rolling pin as well). You want the dough to be an even thickness and it to be about an inch larger than the pan. I test by putting the pan over the dough to see if it is large enough. My grandma used to roll the dough over the rolling pin and the unroll it back over the pie pan. My mom showed it to me and I gotta say that does work really well. If you are not confident in doing that gently fold the dough in half, place it in the pan and unfold it. Then tuck the edges of the dough under itself so it leaves a little bit of a thick edge. You can leave it or pinch it to make it look decorative. I have even used a fork or a spoon to make a design on it. Using a fork poke holes in around the bottom part of the dough to help prevent it from puffing up. The industry term is docking I believe. Then put the parchment paper over the dough and fill it with the pie weights, rice or the beans and then put it in the oven for around 20-25 min. Carefully remove the paper so you don't spill the contents and then put the pie shell back in the oven until it is fully golden brown/cooked through about 15-20 min more based on your oven. There is nothing worse than a soggy crust on a pie so make sure that sucker is cooked well. Set aside to cool.

While the crust is cooling, go ahead and make the whipped cream topping.

I used my leftover heavy whipping cream about 1 1/2 c a few Tbsp of powdered sugar, 1tbsp vanilla extract (and/or a vanilla bean). Whip the cream until it is almost at a soft peak then add the vanilla bean seed (if you are using) and begin to sprinkle in the sugar Tbsp by Tbsp to your desired sweetness. When it is almost at stiff peak go ahead an add the vanilla extract and finish whipping to a stiff peak. It is important to get the cream started whipping before adding the sugar and flavoring so it won't hinder the air bubbles that form when you are making whipped cream.

Once the crust is cool, assemble the pie. Add the mousse first and spread it out evenly in the shell. Then top with the whipped cream. You can also use an Italian meringue and toast it with a blow torch but I personally prefer the cream topping. You can go fancy and pipe a lovely design. The sky's the limit. I like the more rustic look by spreading it on top and doing a little swirl here and there on the top to match the homemade look of the crust.

Go nuts, make this yours and if you do please share what you did with a picture. I love seeing everyone's take

I hope you have as much fun experimenting with this as I do and I hope to see your take. Right now I am going to go get a healthy helping of my finished pie (see what I did there?) and releax... à tout à l'heure.