White and dark chocolate pie

Another no-bake dessert. A soft and gooey chocolate pie based on a recipe from Martha Stewart’s Pies and Tarts cookbook, a copy of which my younger daughter, Alex, gave me on Mother’s Day.

The differences between Martha’s pie and mine:

1. I opted for a no-bake crust, mixture of graham crackers, toasted coconut bits and melted butter.

2. I used light cream made from vegetable. So to make sure that my pie filling would set despite the lack of fat, I added some powdered gelatin to it. Did it work? Yes, it did.

Makes an eight-inch pie.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1/4 c. of melted butter
1/2 c. of crushed graham crackers
1/2 c. of toasted coconuts

For the filling:

250 g. of dark chocolate
1/3 c. of sugar
2 c. of light cream
2 tsps. of powdered unflavored gelatin (unnecessary if using full cream)

For the topping:

1/4 c. of white chocolate morsels
2 to 3 tbsps. of light cream

Prepare the crust by mixing together all three ingredients. Dump into an eight-inch pie plate.

Press onto the bottom and sides. Chill the in the fridge while you make the filling.

Cut the chocolate into small pieces.

Place in a heatproof bowl with the sugar then place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water to melt.

When the chocolate has melted, pour in the cream and stir.

Keep stirring until heated and thick, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the powdered gelatin little by little, stirring as you do. Keep stirring for a few minutes until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Remove from the pan and allow to cool a little.

Turn OFF the stove. As the dark chocolate mixture cools, place the white chocolate in another heatproof bowl and melt over the pan of hot water. This stage takes only a minute as white chocolate melts much faster. As soon as the white chocolate melts, stir in two to three tablespoonfuls of cream, or just enough to make the mixture of pouring consistency. Pour the white chocolate mixture into a glass with a beak.

Take the crust out of the fridge. Pour the dark chocolate mixture over it.

Pour the white chocolate mixture over the dark chocolate, making sure that some of the dark chocolate mixture remains visible.

Run a knife all over the surface of the filling to create interesting patterns.

Chill the pie for several hours before cutting and serving.