The first TGIP is Thursday, May 24.

Our first recipe will be French Silk Pie. I wanted to make a chocolate cream pie that is eggless, so I found this recipe.

Update: here is the recipe and the results.

For the pie crust I used the All Buttah Pie Dough recipe, but with a food processor.

Pie Dough

1/2 Cup (1 stick) butter
1 1/4 C all purpose flour
Pinch salt
Ice water

In a food processor, whisk together the flour and salt to combine. Add the butter, pulsing until it is the size of walnut halves (for a flaky crust) or peas (for a mealy crust). Add the water a few tablespoons at a time and mix just until the dough comes together. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill well (30-45 minutes).

Blind bake:
Preheat oven to 475. Roll the dough and place in a greased tart pan or pie dish. Bake (with pie weights) 8 minutes, then let cool. Turn the oven down to 350.

Filling

1/2 Cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1.5 C confectioners sugar
0.5 C chocolate chips
1 Tbsp espresso powder (or dark roast instant coffee)
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 Tbsp sour cream

Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate and espresso powder to the butter and sugar mixture. Whip in vanilla and sour cream until light and fluffy. Pour into pre-baked pie crust and chill for at least one hour before serving. Serve with whipped cream. (Note: I found that after being chilled overnight, the pie texture was better if you took it out of the fridge for about 20 minutes before serving.)

Whipped Cream

1 C cold heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp sugar, honey or maple syrup
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Place mixer bowl and whisk in freezer for at least 20 minutes to chill. Pour heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla into the cold bowl and whisk on high speed until medium to stiff peaks form, about 1 minute. Do not over beat.

UPDATE:

I have now made 4 additional flavor versions of this pie. Here are some alternates

COFFEE: I doubled the amount of espresso powder (or instant coffee) in this version and did not add vanilla. Learning: instead of putting coffee directly into the batter, dissolve it into a tablespoon of hot water first, then add. That will avoid grainy crystals in your pie.

CARAMEL: I made a caramel sauce and coated the crust after I baked it. Then I drizzled the rest on top. In the future, I might even mix some into the batter for a stronger caramel flavor. No espresso powder in this version.

MINT: I replaced vanilla with peppermint extract and removed the espresso powder from the recipe. I also doubled the amount of extract, and you could smell the mint a mile away. But it was good! In the future, i might sprinkle some crushed peppermint candies on top.

CHOCOLATE ORANGE: I used dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet chips. In the filling I used Grand Marnier instead of vanilla extract. And in the whipped cream I used orange extract instead of vanilla extract. Perfection.