Black Bottom Pie

This last week for our weekly watching of Dancing with the Stars and dinner I had the dessert to go with Michelle's pasta and Carol's salad and garlic bread. Of course I wanted to make something with pumpkin, as is fitting for the season, but since we'd had pumpkin desserts the last two weeks I was feeling a little sorry for Kevin (who doesn't like pumpkin). I decided to make Kevin's all-time favorite dessert... Black Bottom Pie. This recipe is a little bit of work, but totally worth it! It's a chocolate crust with a layer of rich chocolate custard and a fluffly layer of meringue topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. YUM!

Crust:

I just used a store bought chocolate cookie crust (don't use the oreo one).

If you would like to make your crust from scratch:

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.

Press into a pie plat to form a crust. Bank for 5 minutes. Cool completely.

Fillings: 

1 Tablespoon (1 pkg) unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

Add gelatin to water and stir slightly. 

Set aside and let the gelatine soften while the custard cooks.

2 oz unsweetened chocolate

Melt in microwavable bowl, stirring every 30 seconds. Set aside.

Custard:

3 egg yolks

1 1/2 cup milk

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons Flour

Mix sugar and flour in a sauce pan. Whisk together milk and egg yolks then

add to flour mixture. Whisk until there are no more lumps.

Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly with a woodend spoon until the mixture

boils and forms a custard.

Rich Chocolate Layer:

Mix melted chocolate and one cup of cooked custard.

Pour in bottom of pie crust.

Mix gelatin with remaining custard and place in fridge, stirring every 10 minutes until cool, but do not let set completely or it will be lumpy when mixed with whipped egg white mixture (below).

Fluffy Meringue Layer:

3 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla

Beat egg whites with cream of tarter until foamy.

Gradually add the sugar to the egg whites and continue to beat till

stiff and glossy peaks form. Beat in the vanilla.

Gently fold egg white mixture with the cooled custard mixture.

Pour in crust over chocolate layer. If mixture is not stiff enough to

mound on pie crust refrigerate untill set up a little.

Whip Cream Layer:

1 cup heavy cream

3 Tablespoons confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat whip cream until almost stiff. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla. 

Spread the stiff cream over the cooled custard layer.

Finishing:

Grate or shave a square of semisweet or unsweetened chocolate on top.

Doesn't it look absolutely wonderful!