Mayan Chocolate Pie
An easy chocolate cream pie flavored with cayenne and cinnamon.
Servings 7
Cost 5
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch graham cracker crust or baked pie shell (graham cracker crust recipe in notes)
Chocolate Filling
- ¼ cup cornstarch (32 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk (225 grams)
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 6 oz chopped chocolate (170 grams)
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract (divided use)
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
- Off heat, Mix cornstarch, sugar and salt in a heavy saucepan. Add a little of the milk and whisk until smooth. Whisk in egg yolks, then gradually whisk in remaining milk.
- Set over medium heat and whisk until mixture thickens – this should happen pretty quickly. Mixture will get thick and lumpy.
- When the mixture is thick, turn off the heat and whisk in the chocolate and spices.
- Scrape the chocolate mixture into a mixing bowl and add the softened cream cheese and the half of the vanilla. Mix well and let stand to cool. It probably won't look very pretty at this point, but should smooth out a little when you fold in the cream.
- In a large mixing bowl, whip the cream and 1 tablespoon of the sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold about one third to one half of the whipped cream (depends on how much you want to lighten the chocolate) into the cooled. chocolate mixture. Spread the chocolate mixture in the crust. Add the remaining vanilla to the remaining whipped cream and spread over the chocolate mixture.
- Chill for 4 to 6 hours or overnight if you have time.
Notes
Be sure to use semisweet chocolate or chips and not 70% or above. For a basic graham cracker crust, combine 1 ¼ cups graham crumbs (one sleeve), 2 ½ tablespoons sugar, 5 tablespoons of butter and a pinch of salt (skip if using salted). Press into pan and bake at 350 for 8 minutes.