Hey guys it's Bettie from BakerBettie.com and welcome back.
Today we are making French Silk Pie.
And if you have never had French Silk Pie then you are missing out.
It is essentially a really really rich chocolate silk filling that is extremely silky in texture
which is where it gets its name.
It is always a show stopper at any gathering I bring it to so let's go ahead and get started.
Alright so we are going to get started with the crust.
I have in my mixing bowl 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour and I'm adding in a large pinch
of salt and 1/3 cup of cold shortening.
Now you can use butter if you prefer or a combination of shortening and butter.
Now we're going to use a pastry cutter to cut the fat through the flour until it is
about the size of peas.
These little pieces of fat are going to melt in the oven making our crust really nice and
flaky.
Next I'm going to add some iced cold water about one tablespoon at a time and gently
stir it together with my spatula.
Now it's important to be very gentle here I am not being heavy handed at all.
I'm just being very gentle and stirring it together which is important for a tender crust.
Now you can test to see if there's enough water in the dough by gently squeezing it
together.
If it falls apart then you need a bit more water but if it does hold together when you
squeeze it you are good to go.
Now we're going to refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes to firm it up and then we
can roll it out.
So place it on a lightly floured work surface and gently roll it out to about 12-13 inches
wide.
We are using a 9 inch pie plate so we want it to be a few inches wider than the diameter
of the plate so that it sits nicely down into it.
Now you could use a graham cracker crust or an oreo crust if you prefer for this pie but
I think the saltiness of a traditional crust is best because that filling is so rich and
it just helps balance it.
Now drape the curst over your rolling pin and gently transfer it into the pie plate.
Pulling up on the sides so that it naturally sits down into it.
You don't want to stretch the dough to fit your pie plate or that is going to cause it
to shrink alot in the oven.
Trim the edges of the dough so that there's about 1/2 inch hanging off the sides and then
fold the edges under to create a lip.
Now crimp the crust with your fingers or you can use a fork to press into it if you like
that look better.
Once it is crimped use a fork to dock it a few times then place a piece of parchment
paper in it and fill it with dried beans, rice or pie weights.
Now bake the crust 400 degrees fahrenheit on the bottom third of the oven for about
20 minutes.
Then take the pie weights off and let it bake for 5 more minutes to finish crisping up.
While our pie crusting is cooling we can go ahead and make our filling.
So I'm going to start with 2 sticks of unsalted butter in my stand mixer here and I'm adding
1 and 1/2 cups of granulated sugar.
Now I am beating that on medium high speed for about 3 minutes until it is really light
and fluffy.
Ok next I'm adding 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate that has been melted and cooled
slightly.
And this is what is going to give our French Silk Pie that intense chocolate flavor.
Next off is 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and 1/4 teaspoon of instant espresso powder.
And both of these are actually optional but they're really going to elevate the chocolate
flavor even more.
And next I'm adding 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Now give that bowl a scrape down with a spatula and we can move on to the fun part which is
the eggs.
This is the part that is really going to thicken up our filling and make it really silky.
We need 4 large eggs that are at room temperature for this recipe and we are only going to add
one egg at a time and we need to beat it on high speed for 5 full minutes after each egg
is added.
This long beating time is absolutely necessary to get your filling to be silky smooth and
to get it so setup in the refrigerator.
Do not rush this process, I need to stress this very clearly.
Don't rush the process or your filling is not going to be silky and setup .Now I very
rarely say that you absolutely need a stand mixer for a recipe but this is one of those
rare occasions where a hand mixer probably isn't going to get the job done as well.
And I should also note that this filling is not going to be cooked which means that yes
there are raw eggs in the filling and if you are concerned about eating raw eggs then make
sure you buy pasteurized eggs at the store.
They will be labeled as such and pasteurized eggs have gone through a heating process that
eliminates the risk of food borne illness.
Now once we have beaten that filling for 20 full minutes it should look like this, a little
bit runny but really silky smooth.
And now we can transfer it to our cooled pie shell and let it cool in the refrigerator
for at least 2 and preferably 4 hours to setup.
Now we can top it with real whipped cream and I just made mine by beating heavy whipping
cream with a little bit vanilla and powdered sugar.
And you can also add some shaved chocolate if you'd like to decorate it and to make the
shaved chocolate just take a peeler and run it across a chocolate bar to get some shavings.
And that is it this pie is such a huge hit at gatherings.
Everyone goes nuts for it.
And you really can't blame them.
It's rich it's chocolatey and it has that silky smooth texture it's going to be a fast
favorite in your recipe repertoire.
You can find the full printable recipe linked in the description box and if you enjoyed
this video make sure you give it a like and leave me a comment.
Let me know if you tried this recipe and tag me @bakerbettie on social media so that I
can see what you made and I'll see you guys next time with another recipe tutorial.