Chocolate Bavarian Pie

 

  Chocolate Bavarian Pie

I chose to make a homemade graham cracker crust for the crunch factor when I made this pie, it was delicious with the smooth chocolate filling. You can also make this using a 9 inch baked pie crust. This was a very easy recipe, I made the graham cracker crust first and let it cool.  The Bavarian filling was simple to put together.  The longest time period in the recipe was waiting for the cooked chocolate filling to set up into a…” mounds when dropped from a spoon” consistency before adding the whipped cream.

 

The recipe starts with a saucepan.  Place one cup of milk into a medium size saucepan.  Sprinkle one envelope of unflavored gelatin over the milk. If your not familiar with unflavored gelatin you can find it in any grocery store in the baking section. It is flavorless and colorless so it doesn’t affect the taste or color of your recipe. It’s used in this recipe to”gel” the chocolate filling.  I’ve always used Knox unflavored Gelatin but you can use any brand you like. Let the two ingredients sit in the pan together several minutes until the gelatin softens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cook the mixture over medium heat , stirring constantly until it starts to boil. After it starts to boil, remove it from the heat.

 

 

Add two Tablespoons of butter to the chocolate mixture in the pan. Stir until it melts.

 

 

 

Stir in the remaining 3/4 cup milk and 3/4 Teaspoon vanilla.

 

 

Pour the mixture into a large bowl. Let it cool down on the counter, then refrigerate the mixture until it’s almost set. What does almost set mean?  When the chocolate mounds slightly when you scoop it.  The best example I can give you of what “mounded slightly” looks like is…If you’ve ever made instant pudding and put it in the fridge to firm up you know that you can scoop out a definite firm scoop of pudding that holds it’s shape when it’s ready to eat.  You don’t want the chocolate mixture for this pie to do that, you just want it to mound slightly. The chocolate will not be a liquid and it won’t be set, it’ll be a very soft mixture that will  just mound slightly. The next step in the recipe is to add whipped cream and beat the chocolate mixture and cream together.  Having the chocolate in a “mounds slightly ” form is essential so the whipped cream and chocolate mix together perfectly without any lumps.

 

 

 

Beat the whipping cream in a small bowl on high speed until stiff, set it aside for the moment..  Beat the chocolate mixture that has been refrigerated to a “mounds slightly” form on medium speed until it’s smooth. With the mixture on low speed add the whipped cream to the chocolate mixture, beating the two together until well blended. (Look at the texture of the chocolate in this picture to get an idea of what it should be. It’s not thin , but it’s not set either.)

 

 

 Look at that chocolate/whipped cream mixture. It tastes just a s good as it looks.

 

 

Pour the mixture into a prepared crust.  I used the graham cracker crust because I wanted the contrast between the smooth creamy chocolate filling and the slightly crunchy graham cracker crust. Refrigerate the pie for at least 3 hours for it to set up properly. Refrigerate any leftovers covered in the fridge.

 

 

Chocolate Bavarian Pie has an amazing chocolate flavor.  But like I said, that’s what happens when you mix chocolate with cream. You can make Chocolate Bavarian Pie using little  premade tarts or layer the filling in parfait glasses with whipped cream..You can make this a frozen treat by simply putting the finished pie in the freezer for 4 – 6 hours or overnight.  Take it out of the freezer and let sit 10 to 15 minutes before cutting. Whatever form you choose to serve it in, this is one luscious treat you will LOVE!!  Enjoy!