French Silk and Caramel Pie
This is by far the silkiest, smooth pie I have ever eaten! I’m not even sure ‘silky’ goes far enough to describe the texture. Use the best chocolate you can afford, and I highly recommend making your own caramel–it was just so delicious that I can’t imagine not doing so!
The directions ensure that the eggs are safely cooked, so no worries there, and I think that cooking the egg mixture adds significantly to the smoothness of the texture. I’ve never had a French Silk pie so smooth.
Try not to make it more than 24 hours ahead of time.
French Silk and Caramel Pie
Ingredients
- 1 (9 inch) pre-baked pie crust (bake it enough ahead of time that it has a chance to cool enough to fill)
- 1 1/4 cup caramel sauce (if you make it yourself, you can control the firmness, if you use pre-made, you should expect that it will be quite a bit runnier when you slice it.)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 8 oz. 60% bittersweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter–softened
Instructions
- Pour caramel sauce into prepared, pre-baked pie shell. Place in refrigerator until chocolate filling is ready.
- Whip the heavy cream to a firm peak and set aside.
- In a medium stainless or glass heat-proof bowl, melt the bittersweet chocolate while set over a very low simmering pot of water. Stir it frequently to avoid hot spots. (this approximates a double boiler)
- Set chocolate aside to cool to room temperature.
- In a medium stainless or glass heat-proof bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together well. Set over a small saucepan with an inch of simmering water in the bottom. Make sure the bottom of the bowl is a couple of inches above the simmering water. (this approximates a double boiler)
- Whisk egg mixture continuously until it reaches a temperature of 160 degrees F. This will cook the eggs to a safe temperature. It should take 7–10 minutes for this to be reached. Be sure you are whisking the whole time.
- Once eggs reach 160 degrees F., take off the heat and whisk until the temperature of the eggs comes down to about 90 degrees F.
- Add the chocolate to the egg mixture and whisk well. If it doesn’t seem to be incorporating very well, place it back over the simmering water and whisk until nice and smooth. It shouldn’t need to get very hot to do this.
- Add vanilla and set bowl aside to cool back down to 90 degrees F.
- In a seperate mixing bowl, beat the softened butter until fluffy. Slowly add the cooled chocolate mixture to the whipped butter and mix at medium-high speed for 5–7 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy.
- Carefully fold in the whipped cream until no white streaks remain.
- Pour over caramel layer in pie shell.
- Chill for at least three hours (6–12 is ideal) before garnishing with whipped cream and chocolate decoration. Serve immediately after garnishing.
The Secret Life of of a Chef’s Wife 2013
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So many pies … so little time!
I’ve made a number of French silk pies, but this one looks extraordinary!!! Love the caramel layer…wow!
We’d love to hear feedback if anyone tries this years pies.
Really looking silky! can’t wait to try it out.
Mouth watering. I LOVE silk pies! Mmmm…
Looks like HEAVEN!
I am going try this pie this weekend. I love your blog, you have great taste in food lady.
I have a question. I made your amazing caramel corn, could I use that instead of the caramel sauce?
Nish
You could absolutely use the caramel corn caramel for this pie. If you make sure you cook it to the temperature suggested in the Firm Caramel recipe it should work out great. Any less firm caramel will work, it just will behave differently in the pie. I made another pie once (banana cream with caramel in the bottom.……soooo good!) but the caramel was too runny and sort of absorbed into the crust and filling and I hardly knew it was there! So, make sure it’s cooked to a firm enough stage and you’ll get the effect you want!
About the Caramel segment of your recipe:
It calls for a number of ingredients other than the Sugar and Cream you list in the instructions. When were we supposed to add the salt, butter, and vanilla? I think that might help anyone else who attempts this recipe.
As is, things didn’t go so hot, I’ve had a lot more success with the following recipe:
1 cup butter, 1.5 cup brown sugar, 1.333 cup Karo syrup, 1 can sweetened condensed milk. Add Everything together, boil to 240 (when its a soft ball) problem solved.
Thanks for alerting me to the step I left out. The salt, butter, and vanilla should be added and stirred in right after pulling the finished caramel from the heat.
The recipe you included sounds like a good one. Similar to a caramel popcorn recipe. The recipe above makes a caramel that is darker and more complex in flavor. More caramely, less sweet, if that makes sense, but it can be a tricky recipe, as watching the sugar takes a bit of undivided attention to catch it before it burns.
I just finished making this pie and I can’t seem to keep myself from dipping into the chocolate cream layer!! It has the most amazing texture! This one is going into my hall of fame recipe list. Thanks so much for sharing.
It’s so true! The texture of the filling is amazing! I’m glad you like it.
would this pie go well with a cookie crust instead of a pastry one… and has anyone ever tried it with white chocolate instead of dark
I’m sure it would taste good. I’d probably try to choose a not too sweet cookie, like a shortbread, so that the end result was not overly sweet. Let us know if you try it and like it!