Spicy Chocolate Pie with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

We're in the middle of our first real snowfall of the winter here in Grand Rapids, so all I can think about is staying in and keeping warm. This chocolate pastry is an adaptation of the Chocolate Chess Pie recipe from Nothing in the House. I combined all the warmest flavors I could think of to transform the basic chocolate filling into a super nova of flavor. I also added a mildly sweet cinnamon-infused whipped cream to round out the finished product.

The ingredients to this recipe are always delightfully basic. The point of chess pie (and most of the recipes from Nothing in the House, hence its moniker) is that it can be prepared without a lot of special purchases. To the lineup of usual suspects (flour, sugar, butter, &c.), I added cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and some almond extract I happened to have on hand. These flavors were meant to be reminiscent of Mexican chocolate, but the almond component could probably be omitted (or increased, if you feel adventurous), because I couldn't taste it in the finished product.

Since I'm always committed to honing my craft, I went ahead and made my own crust for this recipe. The Nothing in the House Pie Crust came together nicely, and I didn't even have to get out my food processor, though I did use the cheese grater to "slice" my cold butter (ever since that Szarlotka, I've been seeing this handy tool in a whole new light). The full recipe gave me enough crust for six miniature pies along with plenty of extra dough left over, and the filling batter divided between them perfectly. The kitchen gods seem to be smiling on me this time around...

After about 50 minutes in the oven, my spicy chocolate pies were filling the kitchen with delectable aromatics, and I'd almost forgotten that the snow was busy piling up outside. Then I opened my window to set the pies out to cool, and reality set in. Truth be told, I'm not dreading winter; after all, it's not hard to embrace a season that gives me both plentiful snow days AND a reason to keep my oven on full-blast for months and months on end. 

Sitting in the path of some snowy downdrafts for a few minutes did wonders to bring my pies down to a reasonable temperature, and after about 15 minutes, they were cool enough to handle some topping. I took this recipe for cinnamon whipped cream and cut it in half, plus I decreased the confectioner's sugar even more so it would add creaminess to the spicy flavor without being overpoweringly sweet. 

I finished off my spicy chocolate pies with a generous dollop of the home-made whipped cream and a light sprinkling of extra cinnamon, and of course, a taste test was necessary after that. I managed to stop myself after eating just half of one, but I could have easily kept going. The whipped cream balances out the cayenne for just the right amounts of heat and richness, and the cinnamon and chocolate are the perfect winter combination.

Spicy Chocolate Chess Pie 

adapted from Nothing in the House

For the Pie:

Nothing in the House pie crust (whole recipe for six 4-oz ramekins)

1/2 c. (one stick) butter

2 oz. (2 square) bittersweet chocolate

3/4 c. white sugar

1 Tblsp. yellow cornmeal

2 large eggs, beaten well

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper  (or more, to taste)

1/4 tsp. salt

For the Cinnamon Whipped Cream:

1 c. heavy cream, cold

1/4 c. confectioner's sugar

1 heaping tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

For the Pie

Prepare the Nothing in the House pie crust and chill dough at least 1 hour before rolling out and fitting into six greased and floured 4-oz ramekins. Alternately, prepare half the recipe to fit one 9-inch pie pan.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Put rolled and fitted crusts back in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over med-low heat for 5 minutes until they make a smooth sauce. Remove from the heat and pour into a medium bowl.

Add the sugar and cornmeal to the chocolate mixture and stir until well combined. Then add the eggs, vanilla, almond, spices, and salt. Whisk until evenly mixed.

Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet and pour the filling into the pie crusts. Then place the cookie sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake until the pie filling has puffed and formed a crusty top, and crust is golden brown, about 50 minutes  for ramekins, or 50-60 minutes for a normal-sized pie pan. 

Remove pie from oven and let cool until still slightly warm -- about 30 minutes -- while you make the whipped cream.

Serve pie warm or at room temperature with a dollop of cinnamon whipped cream and a dusting of ground cinnamon.

For the Whipped Cream

In a large bowl with a mixer set on med-high (or a hand-mixer using the whisk attachment), beat cream, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla until stiff peaks form, about 3-5 minutes. Do not over beat. 

Extra whipped cream can be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

Serve pie warm or at room temperature with a dollop of cinnamon whipped cream.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Pretzel Tart

I’ve been traveling a lot lately, and I feel like the 4oz Kitchen has been a bit neglected, so August is going to be The Month of Lots of Baking. Today’s recipe for Chocolate & Peanut Butter Pretzel Tartlets is actually one of my all-time favorite desserts from Emily Hilliard at Nothing in the House (Have you been there yet? Go there. Seriously. You’ll never want to leave). I've made it a few times over the past couple of years, and it's never not been a home run. This simple tart is filled with creamy peanut butter swirled into rich chocolate ganache, and the crust is packed with pretzels. So you’ve got your sweet meeting your salty, your creamy meeting your crunchy, and good luck putting down that fork. At this point I should confess that I’ve never actually gotten to the point of using a fork with this tart because whenever it’s in the house, my impulse for immediate gratification becomes overpowering and I go at it bare handed. But you get the idea. 

Now I know it’s summer, which means peaches are in season along with myriad other fresh ingredients. However, a few days ago, I went to sleep on July 31, and something terrible happened overnight.  August reared its ugly head, and the inevitable end of summer vacation began looming in a very real and ominous way on my mental horizon. In such a bleak state of affairs, I didn’t need fruit, I needed comfort food – so here we are.

Like I said before, this is not a new recipe; I’ve made it a handful of times in the past, but this time I made a deliberate decision to be more liberal with my application of butter, and this was a good choice.

For instance, I used a good half of this stick of butter on the six waiting tart dishes along with a light dusting of flour. Not only did it make removing the tarts from their dishes a painless process, but I feel confident that the flavor of the crust was improved slightly as well.

Here’s my dough ball, comprised half of flour and half of crushed pretzels; it turned out to be a nice mix of sweet and salty. In the past I’d used a rolling pin to crush my pretzels by hand, but this time around I used the food processor, which turned out to give me a better consistency for the crust. While you can see that a few chunks of pretzel remained, which was good for flavor and texture, the finer pretzel powder seemed to help the dough hold together better overall.

Unlike other, stressful tart crust experiences, this one behaved impeccably as I rolled it out between two sheets of plastic wrap. I think the recipe called for waxed paper here, but I like to be able to see exactly how my crust is holding up, so I went with a more transparent alternative.

Once the dough was about 15 inches in diameter, I cut out circles using my trusty martini glass (the circumference of which makes the perfect mini-tart-dish-sized circle)  and pieced the crust into my waiting, (heavily buttered) dishes.

The original recipe makes a 12-inch tart, so I had more than enough dough. If I’d had more tart dishes I could have gotten at least two more crusts.

Here’s the next moment of extra-buttery goodness in this recipe. For the first 20 minutes they’re in the oven, the crusts need to be covered with aluminum foil that’s been buttered on the underside.  I promise, you guys, there are few little things in life more subtly satisfying than smearing soft lumps of butter over a smooth surface. I especially recommend foregoing the spatula and using your hands.

After my crusts were baked and cooled, preparing the ganache was a simple “heat the cream, pour it over your really tasty Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips, wait 5 minutes, whisk, and keep lovin’ life” kind of thing. The peanut butter just needed to be warmed a little to melt. Pour your warm, gooey fillings into your crusts, swirl around, and voilà: dessert to die for.

These tarts taste just like my favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor, Chubby Hubby. This ice cream was also our go-to snack in college when my roommates and I needed some emergency stress reduction via food therapy, so no wonder I started craving it the morning after having my first school-related anxiety dream (wherein I found myself in front of a classroom of first graders, I was late to a student government meeting, and a tornado raged outside the window – yikes). So I’m going to take a step back, take a few deep breaths, and savor the last weeks of summer while I work my way through a few of these bad boys. 

Post Script: Part of me does feel a little guilty for neglecting summer fruit season though, so check back soon for some peach-inspired, herby-spicy goodness.