Happy Mommy Day! (French Silk Pie Edition)

This is my present to my Mom this Mother’s Day: 

Just a small portion of my efforts.
The ♥ is because it was a labor of love.

I chopped, packaged, and froze approximately 6 pounds of onions. Weird gift? Maybe. But not if you know my dear Madre. My Mom despises fresh onions, or so she says. In reality, my Mom likes cooking with onions and does so frequently. What she hates is cutting them up--they make her eyes water terribly.

The aftermath. 

I would sympathize, but somehow I have the super-human ability not to tear up around fresh onion. And thus my somewhat odd Mother’s Day gift.

Anyways. Enough about onion.

Instead, let's talk about dinner. On Sundays my Mother hosts family dinner (including all of my siblings+spouses+children), and we invite 2 missionaries from our church. Lately, that means 10 people (11 if you count my niece, but she can't eat solid food yet).

This is sometimes stressful on my Mamacita, so my older brother and I decided we’d make dinner this week.  We're having a smorgasbord of butterfly shrimp, fresh spring rolls, quinoa salad, cantaloupe, cucumber, and a few other oddities added in. (We’re about pleasing people here, not making cohesive meals).

For dessert, I decided to make one of my specialties: French Silk Pie.

Mmm. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water (literally). My Mom looooves chocolate, so I thought this pie would fit nicely with our Mother’s Day dinner. French Silk Pie is a chocolate mousse pie that has a light and silky texture but rich, decadent flavor. It is a favorite of mine, for sure. This recipe in particular suits my mom because you cook the eggs, which isn't very common in this type of pie.

It takes some extra time and TLC to make this award-winning dessert, but the result is worth the effort. If you want to make it yourself, here is the recipe:

French Silk Pie 
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

1 prepared pie crust*
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
whipped cream (optional)
your choice of garnish (optional)

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and eggs. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 160°. Remove from heat; add chopped chocolate and vanilla. Cool to 90°, stirring occasionally.   (This will take a little while, so go watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory. Or read a chapter of Fablehaven).

In a bowl, cream butter. Add cooled chocolate mixture and beat on high for 5 minutes.

In another bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add powdered sugar and continue to beat until stiff. Gently fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture. Once combined, spread into prepared crust. Refrigerate for 6 hours before serving (I usually shoot for overnight, if possible).

My unadorned pie

If you want to stop there and start eating, that is fine and dandy.

However, I like to top this with whipped cream because it looks pretty, and it counterbalances the richness of the filling. If I'm in the mood, I pipe the whipped cream on the pie with a fancy-dancy star tip. If I'm not in the mood, I just smear it on with a spatula.

I'm always in the mood for a little extra garnish, though. I think it gives this pie a little extra somethin' somethin'. Garnishes I have used in the past include miniature chocolate chips, chocolate jimmies, chocolate shavings (made using a chocolate bar and a vegetable peeler), and a chocolate drizzle. You can use whatever you like. My choice usually stems from what is already in my pantry.

whipped cream and chocolate curls

*You can use whatever kind of crust floats your boat. In the past I have used graham cracker, shortbread, chocolate wafer, and traditional pastry crust. You can even buy a pre-made pie crust if that makes you happy. This time around, I used a homemade traditional pastry crust.