Yep, it’s Labor Day weekend, and what better way to usher in Fall than to stuff ourselves with delightful food and desserts!!! I don’t know about you, but I start to get excited around this time of year. We start to get a little relief from the heat AND I get to start breaking out the comfort and holiday food recipes 🙂 This Chocolate Cream Pie with Raspberry filling was previously entered in a pie contest we enter every year. And while it didn’t win, I have to say, the crowd polished this one off fast. I combined my three favorite dessert flavors for this pie, chocolate, raspberries and OREO’S!!! Yeah, you could pretty much crush up Oreo’s and put them on anything and I’m in!
As for making this pie, it comes together very easily, and you know that’s what I’m all about. You see part of the problem for me in making dessert is in actually getting to completion. I end up licking the spoon and then snacking on an Oreo or two or three, and then I’m looking around like a guilty person (with chocolate on my face) like, “Whaaaaaa?” It’s very embarrassing. But whatever, isn’t this what making dessert is all about? My husband is looking at me shaking his head. And I remind him, “But Sweetie Pie, you’re always telling me to taste things to make sure the flavors are just right…” And he reminds me that tasting and eating are two very different things. Again, whatever…
So here we are at the pie contest last year with three incredible pies. This is something we do every year, to kinda push ourselves to get creative and see how the outside world reacts to our creations. It’s a fun couple of days for us. We prep and cook for two days straight, then box up our pies for transport. After arriving and checking in one of each pie for the judges, we take the sampler pies to the taster tables where the general public can come grab a piece to try. I love watching the reactions on peoples faces as they take a bite of each pie. You can clearly tell in those moments whether you’ve got a winner or not (even if you don’t win with the judges). We will be entering again this Fall, so if you have any ideas about a pie you’d like us to make, please comment below!
Now back to the pie 🙂 So yes, this one has a layer of my favorite raspberry preserves from Trader Joe’s. You can’t go wrong mixing a tart berry like a raspberry with chocolate. There just really is nothing better! And the Oreo cookie crust is one of my favorite crusts to make because it’s sooooo easy to make, just crumble cookies, add melted butter and bake until you can smell that lovely goodness permeating your house. The whipped cream on top is also very easy to make and it can be piped onto the top of the chocolate cream or you can just slather it on. I topped this pie with some pretty raspberries and some cookie fairy dust as a garnish 😉
Here’s the recipe:
Chocolate Cream Pie with Raspberries and Oreo Cookie Crust
INGREDIENTS
(For the Crust)
25-35 Oreo Cookies (scrape the white filling off of the cookies)
4 Tbsp melted butter (salted or unsalted is fine, we use salted butter)
(For the Chocolate Creme Pie)
5 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
3 egg whites at room temperature
Raspberry Jam or Preserves to layer in between chocolate cream and whip cream
(For the whipped cream)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 cups cold Heavy Cream
Crumbles of cookies and Full Raspberries for top
DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 350 degrees and place rack to middle setting.
Place cookies in a Ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin or tap with the bottom of a cup until the cookies are about the size of peas. Transfer crumbs to a bowl and add melted butter. Mix until combined. Pour the crumbs into a 9″ pie plate and use your fingers to press the crumbs into the dish. Push the crumbs up the sides of the pie plate as well. Bake until fragrant, about 10-12 minutes. Remove and cool to a wire rack.
To make the chocolate cream, fill a sauce pan with about 2 inches of water and bring to a light simmer. Place the chopped chocolate and 1/4 cup of the cream in a large heatproof bowl (keep the rest of the cream in the fridge until ready to use). Rest the bowl over the saucepan, making sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t sitting in the boiling water. Allow the chocolate to melt, continually stirring until the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and set aside to cool.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg whites on high until stiff peaks form. Clean and dry the beaters.
Place the other 3/4 cup cream in a separate bowl and mix on high until stiff peaks form.
Using a spatula, fold half of the whipped cream into the melted chocolate, then stir in the rest (stir gently as you don’t want to deflate the whipped cream). Fold the egg whites into the chocolate cream until there is no white left (don’t overmix). Spoon the chocolate cream onto the cookie crust and refrigerate for about 2 hours (to allow it to set).
To make the whipped cream, try to keep everything cold, even your mixer bowl and attachments can be placed in the freezer for a few minutes to chill before using. Add the cream, sugar and vanilla to the bowl and whisk on high until small peaks form.
Take you chocolate cream out of the fridge and smooth on a layer of raspberry preserves on top of the chocolate pie. Then use a decorator bag with a tip or a Ziplock bag with the end cut off one corner and pipe the whip cream on top of the raspberry layer. Add cookie crumbs to the top of the whip cream and decorate with whole raspberries and Oreo cookies to your liking.
This pie needs to be kept refrigerated until served.
Happy Labor Day to all you folks in the U.S. and Happy Father’s Day weekend to all of you in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji! If you enjoyed this post and would like to receive new posts, please join our list by clicking here! Also, you can follow us on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook.
~Mandy Gatlin