Over the past few years I’ve made a lot of chocolate cream pies, and one thing I discovered was that I really like the ones made with evaporated milk. It gives the filling a slick, smooth texture, plus it doesn’t taste overly rich. Not that there’s anything wrong with cream pies made with heavy cream and chocolate, but inexpensive pies like Earl’s Chocolate Pie and this evaporated milk chocolate cream pie, are a little bit less heavy, but still full of chocolate flavor.
For this pie, I halved the recipe and made the pie in my very much loved 7 inch glass pie dish which I bought off Amazon a while ago. I’ve since seen that size pie dish on eBay, so if you are a small family or just like baking pies over and over and don’t want a lot of leftovers, I recommend buying yourself a 7 inch dish.
Or make the recipe in full! It freezes well and is relatively inexpensive. And if you keep evaporated milk on hand, there’s a good chance you’ll have all the ingredients in the pantry.
Evaporated Milk Chocolate Cream Pie
- 1 9 inch pie crust, baked
- 1 1/4 scant cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, use your best!
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 (12 oz) cans evaporated milk, Pet
- 4 tablespoons room temperature butter, cut up
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Mix the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan off heat.
- Gradually whisk in evaporated milk until blended.
- Set the pan over medium heat and stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. After mixture starts to boil, set timer for 1 minute and continue stirring until timer goes off.
- Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla, stirring until butter is melted. Pour into prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap or buttered parchment to prevent skin from forming. Let the pie cool at room temperature (completely if you have time, but I cheated and put it in the refrigerator while still slightly warm).
- Chill 4 hours or until ready to eat.
- Uncover pie. Spread whipped topping on top of pie.
Yes, definitely!
could you use a graham cracker crust for this pie?
Cheryl and Darlene, thanks for the comments! Cheryl, that’s a cute idea to make a special pie solely for the birthday person. Darlene, I’m glad you have the ingredients and hope you get around to making it. Would love your opinion.
Looks delicious, and I actually do have all the ingredients!
For years I would make some of my pie recipes 1.5 times so I ended up with a large and a small pie. One to celebrate with and the small one for the birthday person to take home and enjoy. Always got those little pans returned so I would do again next year for them!