Double Chocolate Pudding Pie

Homemade Chocolate Pudding Pie

As I've told you before, the husband isn't a big fan of cake. So I knew when his big day came around he wouldn't be asking me to bake him anything. Luckily, he does still enjoy a good ol' chocolate dessert. (If the man didn't eat chocolate or cake, we may have had to rethink this whole marriage thing.) 

I really wasn't sure what he'd want for his birthday dessert, so I gave him a couple of options: Key Lime Mousse or Ellie's Double Chocolate Pudding Pie. For the record, I don't think it was an easy decision. He's a huge fan of lime and has been eyeing a frozen lime dessert in my Heartland cookbook; I really thought he'd choose the mousse. But he went with the pudding pie. 



Ellie Krieger's recipe for chocolate pudding pie sounded simple enough: Make a graham cracker crust and some scratch-made pudding. I could do that. I could, couldn't I? I hoped. I'd never made pudding from scratch before and here I was trying it for the first time on the husband's birthday. Am I good wife or what? (Can you hear my sarcasm from where you're sitting?)

I must admit that I got lucky - or anyone can make Ellie's recipe for chocolate pudding pie, so long as they can stir. I made the crust in my so-loved food processor, boiled water for the gelatin, and mixed the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, salt and milk until it was nice and thick. That doesn't sound that hard, does it? No, it really wasn't that difficult. But the stirring of the chocolate pudding took a lot longer than the 10 minutes Ellie said it'd take. Seriously, I stood at the stove stirring that chocolate birthday treat for much closer to 20 minutes. Finally it boiled and thickened, and I poured it into the crust. 

The recipe said to let the pie rest in the fridge for three hours. Well, I'm not sure how Ellie likes her pudding pie, but I let ours sit in the fridge all night before checking it; eight hours after it was made, I still thought the pie could set more. In all honesty, I'll gladly make and eat this recipe again. But I know enough know to do a few wrist exercising before putting on my apron - and I'll be sure to always make this one a day in advance. Check back March 31, 2011. I'm sure I'll be making this again then.

The husband's slice came out in one piece. Unfortunately, mine didn't.

Double Chocolate Pudding Pie
Adapted From Ellie Krieger

cooking spray
14 graham cracker squares
2 tablespoons salted butter, softened
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin (or 1 package)
1/3 cup boiling water
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa poweder
1/4 cup cornstarch
a dash of salt
3 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and lightly spray a pie plate with cooking spray.

Process the graham crackers in a food processor until finely chopped. Slowly mix in the butter and water until the dough comes together. Press the crust into the prepared pie plate, covering the bottom and as far up the sides as you can. Bake the crust for 10 minutes and allow to cool.

Stir together the boiling water and gelatin in a small bowl until the gelatin is dissolved. Set aside.

Mix the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan. Slowly stir in 1 1/2 cups milk until smooth. Whisk in the rest of the milk. Heat the mixture on medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. (Just keep stirring. Just keep stirring.) 

Remove the pudding from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips until they have melted. Stir in the vanilla and the gelatin. Pour the pudding into the crust and let the pie set in the fridge for three hours or overnight.

Serves 8
According to Ellie's calculations, which includes 1/4 cup heavy cream added to entirety of the pie: 255 calories, 11 g fat, 35 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 7 g protein