ABC - Caramel Chocolate Cream Pie

What's not to like about this month's Avid Baker's Challenge recipe? It has chocolate pudding, a layer of caramel and whipped cream encased in a buttery pie crust. I had high hopes for the Caramel Chocolate Cream Pie and once again, Flo Braker did not disappoint. My only (minor) complaint was that this recipe was time consuming. My husband called it the "all day pie", although I tried to convince him otherwise, since I didn't start working on it until 5:30pm, so technically it's not an "all day pie" :o) Anyhoo, it consists of 3 components that I found a little hard to time just right without lots of idle (waiting) time. Having said that, I found the end result well worth the effort. What do you think?

Caramel Chocolate Cream Pie - bon appetit!

To be honest, on Saturday afternoon I was thinking "shortcuts". I looked in my freezer. I could swear I had a pie crust in there for "emergencies" and, with all the other stuff I had to do this weekend, I thought this could pass for an emergency. Dang! No pie crust. Fine! I'll make it. I'll even follow the instructions and make the pie dough by hand.

And that's how the journey started. Here are some step-by-step pictures:

Cut the butter and a little bit of shortening into the flour with a pastry blender

I added 4 Tbsp of water. Pinched it together and it stuck so I stopped adding water.

I like to roll out pie dough between two pieces of plastic wrap (no extra flour needed)

Remove one piece of plastic wrap, place the dough in the pie pan, then gently remove the other piece of plastic wrap

Flute the edges. If the dough sticks to your fingers, dip them in a little flour

It shrunk after baking but it sure is flaky :o)

The caramel took 2 tries because it seized the first time. So the second time I added a couple Tbsp of water to the sugar.

I mixed the corn starch and sugar together, then added the egg yolks and a little bit of milk.

Bring to a boil the remaining milk, the chocolate and sugar. Add to the egg yolk mixture and then cook the mixture again for a few minutes until thickened.

Doesn't that look creamy?

Pour the caramel into the baked pie crust. I swirled it a bit to coat the sides as well.

Look at that flaky crust!

Can you see the layer of caramel underneath chocolate the pudding?

The perfect bite!

Final thoughts/tips:

• I liked this pie a lot. The pie crust was not the prettiest thing in the world, but it sure was super flaky. You could taste the slightly burned sugar in the thin layer of caramel on the bottom which I liked a lot. The chocolate pudding was very creamy with just the right amount of sweetness. My only (minor) complaint with the pudding was I wished it was a tiny bit firmer. That little bit of booze-free whipped cream was just perfect. The carefully placed toffee bits on top added a nice crunch.
• My husband also liked this pie. The chocolate pudding was chocolatey and sweet enough so it wasn't bitter. He thought the crust was a little too hard to cut through with a fork. I'm thinking I might have slightly overbaked it maybe. His rating was still a good 8 out of 10.
• I had to make the caramel twice. It seized the first time. The second time I added a couple tablespoons of water for a little extra anti-seizing insurance. The taste was phenomenal.
• We drink 1% milk so that's what I used for the pudding. I found it to be an acceptable calorie-cutting substitution.
• Another thing I did was only use 1/4 cup of cream for the topping instead of 3/4 cup. I made it alcohol-free and only added a little bit of sugar and vanilla.