Life of Pi(e) - A Supersized Chocolate Cream Pie, That Is!

Around Thanksgiving, I told you about the BEST....PIE...EVER...  I made it for Thanksgiving, and we went through all of the phases of grief as we stared at the empty pie plate.  So, when it was my Dad's birthday, we decided to GO BIG.  This decadent recipe can easily be tweaked to make the finished product 50% bigger.  All you need to do is streeeeetch your pie crust to cover a large pie plate, and increase the ingredients.  I know, when you add math to the equation, things get less delicious, but lucky for you, we've done the math for you! 

Supersized Chocolate Cream Pie

 Ingredients:

• 1 refrigerated pie crust
• 6 eggs, separated (save both yolks and whites)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 18 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 16 oz carton of heavy whipping cream (you'll have leftover whipped cream, but I'm sure you can find a use for it!)
• A few tablespoons of powdered sugar

Directions:

• Put a small amount of flour in a 10 inch pie plate to lightly coat it. 
• Put pie crust in pie plate.  Streeeetch the pie crust to cover the plate as best you can.  Prick sides and bottom of crust with fork.  Follow directions on crust package, but don't bake more than 9 minutes. 
• When crust is cool, begin to make the filling.  With a hand mixer, whip yolks and sugar in a large bowl.  
• Add the vanilla by hand.  
• Melt chocolate chips in a saucepan over medium heat, then add that by hand to yolks/sugar mixture.  
• Beat egg whites until stiff (with hand mixer), then add that to other mixture (and mix with hand mixer).  Pour into cooked pie crust.  Cool on table.  
• Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.  
• Beat cream into whipped cream with mixer (add 1 - 2 tsp vanilla extract and several tablespoons of powdered sugar).  Spread on top of pie.  If desired, add chocolate shavings to the top.  This year, I used the grating attachment on my food /processor and dumped in the chocolate chips.  It turned out great!

This recipe will have you inventing celebrations to give you an excuse to make it...  And, make sure to invite me!! ;)