Until yesterday, I’d never made a French Silk pie. I’m not sure exactly why that is, because I love chocolate pies and Dreyer’s French Silk is one of my favorite flavors of ice cream. But thanks to Cooks’ Country and their re-make of an old Pillsbury Bake Off recipe, I made my first ever French Silk Pie.
If you can get your hands on a current issue of Cooks’ Country, you can read the whole article on why they made the changes they did. It was interesting, but I wish I had another French Silk Pie to compare it with. This one was very good and despite having to stand over the stove and whip eggs for 10 minutes, it was simple to prepare. It’s basically a fluffy butter-enriched chocolate mousse piled into a pie shell. I was more concerned with the filling and used a store-bought shell, but this would be much better with a homemade crust.
Recipe is on the CI website, but if you don’t want to sign up yet you can grab it off The Mixing Bowl where someone posted it almost verbatim. She did add an extra 1 oz of chocolate, so use only 8 oz of chocolate if you want it to be like the original.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Gosh the name alone “French Silk pie” is so alluring- then I view that slice of chocolate heaven – oh boy I could just do with that slice right now!! Stunning!!
I haven’t eaten French Silk Pie in a while, but I remember it as smooth with a texture like flan, not whipped like mousse.
The name alone has me rushing to the store to get all the ingredients!! looks so good!!
This one was more like mousse, yet had a smooth feel in the mouth (thanks to all the butter). I need to try another recipe to compare the two.
I can see from the photo, and it really looks tasty. It just doesn’t look like what I remember. But my mind could be going, although I seem to remember things from the past better than current stuff.
Oooh. A friend of ours favorite pie is French Silk. I’ll have to try this sometime. He bought one once to share with us and it wasn’t nearly as mousse looking and fluffy. But I know that smooth buttery taste you’re talking about. I’ll have to look at this recipe. Are the eggs cooked? French Silk I’ve seen has raw eggs in it.
French Silk is one of my favorite treats. I always assumed cream cheese was used, because of the mouth feel you get, but butter makes sense too. YUM!
Here’s the 1951 Pillsbury version (updated to replace the raw egg):
http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/showrecipe.aspx?rid=11269&tab=recipe
The texture was a cross between a truffle and a mousse. I didn’t remember it having so much butter, but I did make it years ago and it was very good.
The CC version looks fluffier, but really luscious.
Not sure if you’ve ever tried this or if it’s a regional dessert, but French Silk dessert is incredible! Here’s a link: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1918,152185-240198,00.html
Christy, my family would love that! They love anything made with Jell-o pudding. Lately, I’ve been trying to do things from scratch, but if I made that everyone would be happy. That one looks similar to the Jell-O pistachio flavored dessert.
Why, oh why, did I give up sweets for Lent? Wonderful looking, as usual. And I haven’t had French Silk pie in ages – I would always get it as a child when we would go to the K&W cafeteria with my grandfather in North Carolina. I bet the homemade version is so much better.
French silk pie was my favorite growing up and is still high on my pie list. I think pie is fantastic and I don’t make it often enough.
Pre kids, pre salmonella concerns I used to make French Silk Pie. It was a favorite and something that wowed everyone who ate it. I should try it again now that pasteurized eggs are available. I had forgotten all about it. I think my recipe came from my Aunt.
I forgot to comment on how GORGEOUSLY scrumptious your pie looks!!
This is the Martha Stewart French Silk Pie recipe I use (and love): http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=1e7f542a0780f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=french+silk+pie
That pie looks divine! I love Dreyer’s French Silk ice cream, too. Man oh man, chocolate is my favorite, so any time I can have a pie of pure chocolate, I’m a huge fan. It’d be fun to play around with the pie crust flavorings for an added bit of pizzazz!
I’ve never had silk pie–but it looks like I’m going to have to try it…I love Cook’s Country on TV, one of the few shows I watch. I love all of their ‘corny’ recipes like Black-Out Cake and such.
I have tried to make these kinds of pies only quite recently and failed miserably. I need to learn the trick of heating and mixing with a mixer, and there is a trick!
I tried a grasshopper white chocolate pie, but think the instructions on this recipe sound easier to understand so will try again. My boys have a basic need for chocolate pie. I understand that need.
And I need to get a Cook’s Country subscription again! Thanks for the reminder!
It just so happens that my grandaughter and I made this pie last weekend. We attempted to use Cook’s Country No-Fear Pie Crust, but I wasn’t paying attention and added too much cream cheese to the recipe. I ended up using store-brought pie crust. This pie was a lot like chocolate mousse. It was really, really rich and chocolately, but gosh, it was so good. We were so proud that we made it from scratch.
We doubled the recipe, so she could take a pie home to her mom and the other grandparents. I will difinitely make this again, but with the homemade pie crust.