French Silk Pie is a rich chocolate mousse piled into flaky pastry, and topped with sweetened whipped cream. A delicious treat for a special occasion or any occasion!

I don’t remember the first time I had French Silk Pie. It’s a staple of restaurants and cafes, so I’m sure it was at a Perkins or somewhere else that I first tried it somewhere like that when I was a kid. Chocolate being my favorite form of anything when I was younger, I no doubt loved the rich filling and the piles of whipped cream that typically top such creations.

For as much as I love this pie, these days I usually only have it when my mother-in-law buys one and serves it for Sunday dinner dessert. I never really thought about making my own, until Sue from Palatable Pastime created this Baking Bloggers group, and invited me to join. And as the first topic was pies, I opted to try my hand at making a French Silk Pie.

When it comes to pie making, I like to make my own crust, even though I am HORRIBLE at fluting. I don’t know what it is – The very first time I made my own crust, I did okay (and that was out of sheer desperation – It was Thanksgiving, and I was making pumpkin pie from scratch the night before, and didn’t want to leave to run up to the store, as I’d already ruined two refrigerated crusts!). But it’s like every pie since then, I regress, and can’t seem to figure out what I’m doing.

The filling always (knock on wood!) seems to work out, though!

French Silk Pie

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Ingredients

For the crust:

• 1 1/4 C flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 C cold unsalted butter
• 1/4-1/3 C cold water

For the Pie:

• 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
• 12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 C sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs*
• Whipped cream, optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour and pinch of salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add the water 1 Tbsp. at a time, and stir the flour-butter mixture with a fork. Add water and stir until the mixture is moistened and comes together in a ball. Place on a lightly floured surface, and flatten slightly. Roll out into a circle 12-inches in diameter. Place in a 9-inch pie dish.
Carefully cover with a double thickness of foil topped with pie weights (or 1 cup of rice/beans if you don't have weights).
Bake for 8 minutes, then remove the foil and weights. Bake for 6 minutes more. Place on a wire rack and cool completely.
To make the filling, combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium- high speed until light and fluffy.
Add the chocolate and vanilla, making sure to scrape the bowl to fully mix.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on medium speed for a full 5 minutes after each addition.
Spread the filling into the cooled pie shell, and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Before serving, top with whipped cream, if desired.

Notes

*I used pasteurized eggs in this recipe. You can try substituting pasteurized liquid eggs in place of the raw eggs.

Did you make this recipe?

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