Chocolate Meringue Pie Recipe 435

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 disk of dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into a 12-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edges so that there is a 1-inch overhang. Fold under, and crimp with your fingers. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prick bottom of crust all over with a fork. Freeze 15 minutes. Line with parchment, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges are just golden, about 15 minutes. Remove weights and parchment. Return to oven, and bake until center is golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
• Whisk 1 cup sugar, the flour, and cocoa. Gradually whisk in 1/2 cup milk until smooth and thick. Whisk in egg yolks.
• Heat butter, salt, and remaining 1 1/2 cups milk in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until butter has melted. Add about 1/4 cup butter mixture to the cocoa mixture, and whisk until smooth. Add cocoa-butter mixture to pan, and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and beginning to bubble, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, and whisk in vanilla. Pour through a fine sieve into cooled piecrust. Let cool completely. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Preheat broiler. Put egg whites, remaining 2/3 cup sugar, and the cream of tartar into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk until sugar has dissolved and mixture reaches 160 degrees. Remove from heat. Beat on medium-low speed for 5 minutes. Raise speed, and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Spoon onto pie, making sure meringue touches crust. Broil until browned, 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Steps:

• Filling: Combine sugar, flour, cocoa and salt in a saucepan.
• Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick.
• Pour a small amount into beaten eggs and stir well. Return to hot mixture and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla, mixing well. Pour into a pie shell and set aside.
• Meringue: Preheat oven to 350.
• In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites on high speed of the electric mixer, gradually adding sugar and vanilla. Beat until mixture holds firm peaks. Spread meringue over pie.
• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until browned.

Steps:

• Make the crust:
• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives used like a scissor, or mix with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the ice water over the flour mixture, tossing with a fork; adjust enough of the remaining water, by the tablespoon, tossing, so that the dough holds together. Flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into an 11-inch circle. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Fold the edge under to make a stand-up edge; crimp. Prick the bottom all over with a fork. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Remove the pie plate to a wire rack to cool.
• Make the filling:
• In a heatproof bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks to break up, and then set aside. In a small, heavy saucepan, stir together the sugar, flour and salt. Gradually stir in the scalded milk. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking, until thickened and bubbly, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir a little of the hot mixture into the yolks. Stir the yolk mixture back into the saucepan. Heat over very low heat, stirring, for 2 minutes, and do not let boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Whisk in the chocolate, butter, and vanilla until melted and smooth. Scrape into a clean bowl. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the filling and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and scrape the filling into the piecrust. Cool on a wire rack.
• Make the meringue:
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a small saucepan, stir together the cornstarch, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. In a large bowl, add the salt to the egg whites. With an electric mixer at medium speed, beat just until soft peaks form. Add the cornstarch mixture and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the remaining sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form, 6 to 8 minutes. Spread the meringue mixture over the cooled chocolate filling, make sure the meringue touches the piecrust edge all the way around. Bake until the meringue is golden and its internal temperature registers 150 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve soon after. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Steps:

• For the beginner's pie crust: Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Add the butter and vegetable shortening and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds. With the processor on pulse, add enough of the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough holds together without being sticky or crumbly. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until firm and the moisture has distributed evenly, about 30 minutes.
• Flour a clean work surface and a rolling pin. Place the dough disk in the center of the floured surface. Starting in the center of the dough, roll to, but not over, the upper edge of the dough. Return to the center, and roll down to, but not over, the lower edge. Lift the dough, give it a quarter turn and lay it on the work surface. Continue rolling, repeating the quarter turns, until you have a disk about 1/8 inch thick.
• Ease the pastry into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim 1 inch larger than the diameter of the pie plate; fold the overhanging pastry under itself along the rim of the plate. For a simple decorative edge, press the tines of a fork around the folded pastry. To make a fluted edge, using both your finger and thumb, pinch and crimp the folded dough. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• To blind-bake the crust, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Crumple a piece of parchment paper, and then lay it out flat over the bottom of the pastry. Weight the paper with pie weights, dried beans or uncooked rice; this will keep the unfilled pie crust from puffing up in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the paper and weights. (You can reuse the rice or beans for blind-baking a number of times.) Return to the oven and bake the empty shell until a deep golden brown, about 10 more minutes (for 30 minutes total).
• For the filling and meringue: While the pie crust is warm, brush the bottom with the melted chocolate and set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine 1 cup of the milk and the granulated sugar. In a bowl, combine the remaining 1 cup of milk, the cocoa powder and flour and whisk thoroughly to combine. Heat the saucepan with the milk-sugar mixture over medium-high heat until simmering. Slowly add the milk-flour mixture and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Add the egg yolks, whisking constantly, and heat until it returns to a boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil, immediately add the vanilla and remove it from the heat. Pour the mixture into the baked pie crust. Set aside to cool completely and set, about 2 hours at room temperature or 1 hour refrigerated.
• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
• To make the meringue topping, place the egg whites in a nonreactive bowl with a pinch of salt. Add the cream of tartar and, using a hand-held mixer, whisk on high speed until foamy. Sift over the confectioners' sugar a little at a time and whisk until the whites are glossy and hold stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted.
• To finish the pie, spoon the meringue over the pie, making sure it touches the edges of the pie crust. Bake until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut the pie into wedges and serve.

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle; transfer to a 9-in. pie plate. Trim to 1/2 in. beyond rim of plate; flute edge. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425°., Line unpricked crust with a double thickness of foil. Fill with pie weights, dried beans or uncooked rice. Bake on a lower oven rack until edges are light golden brown, 15-20 minutes. Remove foil and weights; bake until bottom is golden brown, 3-6 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven setting to 350°., In a saucepan, mix sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt; gradually add milk. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir about 1 cup of the hot filling into the egg yolks. Return to saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla. Pour hot filling into pie crust. , For meringue, immediately beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until stiff and glossy. Spread evenly over hot filling, sealing meringue to pie crust. Bake until meringue is golden brown, 12-15 minutes. Cool 1 hour on a wire rack. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.