This Is KerrisKitchen.com

My husband and I have always loved occasional special desserts, but, being a two-person household, we’ve made a habit of having friends over to share whenever I bake pies or cakes.

About two weeks ago, I found this great little 7-inch “pie for two” dish at Amazon:

It’s just the right size for a 1/2 recipe of a standard 9″ pie, so it’s ideal for a two-person household, making enough pie for each of us to have 2 nicely-sized wedges apiece. Each wedge, although more triangular than a conventional piece of pie, is still about the same volume of a small standard piece. It’s just the right size to let us enjoy a piece of pie after a meal one day and then have another for a treat with coffee the next day.

Now, the challenge becomes adjusting recipes for the new dish.

As you’ve probably learned by your own experience, just cutting all ingredients in half to make a half-recipe of anything (or doubling or tripling) doesn’t always work out just right.

Sometimes, baking time is affected by smaller quantities, etc. Sometimes, temperatures need to be increased or decreased. And sometimes, just cutting the ingredients in half results in a dessert with the wrong flavor or texture.

So, I’ve been experimenting. And I’ve come up with a couple of great recipes for this new pie dish.

Here’s the first one: Chocolate Cream Pie for Two. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cream Pie for Two

First, make and bake the pie crust; you’ll cook the filling while the crust is cooling:

Single Pie Crust for 7″ Pie

7 tablespoons Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
3 tablespoons Shortening
1 tablespoon PLUS 1 teaspoon icewater (see below)

1. Pour about 1/4 cup of ice cold water into a measuring cup and add 3 ice cubes. Set this aside.
2. Combine flour and salt in a small bowl.
3. Using a handheld ELECTRIC MIXER, beat in the shortening until the mixture separates evenly into small bits resembling the size of very small peas. This takes about a minute and a half with my mixer. Turn off the mixer as soon as you see pea-sized bits, otherwise you’ll adversely affect the crust’s texture once it’s baked. Timing’s everything!
4. Quickly measure the 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon of ice water from the measuring cup & add all at once to the flour/shortening mixture. Mix immediately with the electric mixer only until it clings into a small ball. Don’t overmix, or you’ll toughen your crust!
5. Sprinkle your clean, dry work surface liberally with flour. Form the dough into a ball, then flatten it gently in your hands.
6. Set the flattened dough ball on the floured surface, sprinkle the top liberally with flour, then use a rolling pin to roll out (from the center to the edges, re-flouring as needed) until it’s about an inch and a half larger (on all sides) than your small pan, inverted onto the crust. Trim the edges neatly, about an inch out from the edge of the pan.
7. Now, gently roll the crust around the rolling pin, then quickly unroll evenly into the pie dish without stretching the crust.
8. Fit and shape the crust, folding edges neatly up and fluting with your fingers.
9. Prick the pie crust evenly and thoroughly, bottom and sides, using a fork.
10. Bake in a preheated 450 (yes, 450) degree oven for 7-8 minutes or until very slightly browned. Do not overbake. Remove from oven. Let the crust cool completely while you cook the filling.

Chocolate Cream Pie Filling

2 Egg Yolks
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Sugar
1/4 cup Flour
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1-1/2 cup Milk
5 tablespoons Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1-1/2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
3/4 teaspoon Vanilla

1. Gently mix the egg yolks together in a small bowl that can hold at least a cup and a half of ingredients. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, mix together flour, sugar, and salt.
3. Whisk the milk into the flour mixture, then begin heating the saucepan over medium heat. Use a heat-resistant silicone spatula to make sure all flour is evenly combined into the milk.
4. Mix in the chocolate chips, whisking constantly.
5. Heat until the chocolate chips have melted, then continue cooking the mixure over medium (or medium-low) heat until it thickens and becomes almost bubbly. Cook and stir another minute and a half.
6. Remove from heat, then stir about a cup of the chocolate mixture into the reserved egg yolks. Mix thoroughly, then pour the egg/chocolate mixture back into the chocolate mixture in the saucepan.
7. Whisk well to thoroughly combine (use your spatula to scrape the sides of the pan), then return to medium heat, whisking constantly, for another 2 minutes. Don’t allow this to boil (if it does, reduce heat slightly).
8. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla. Stir until thoroughly combined, then pour into the cooled pie shell.
9. Cool at room temperature for about 20 minutes, then refrigerate. Chill for at least an hour.
10. Once the pie is THOROUGHLY chilled, top with whipped cream topping.

Whipped Cream Topping

1/2 cup chilled Heavy Whipping Cream
2 tablespoons Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

1. Using an electric mixer, whip together the cream, sugar and vanilla until nicely thickened.
2. Gently mound over the chocolate pie filling. I recommend shaving semisweet chocolate over the top of the whipped cream. Refrigerate until serving. Enjoy!