Black Bottom Cream Pie Recipe

Where all of Grandmother's favorite recipes are found, just like Grandmother makes them, with a little love.

Ingredients

Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
4-5 tablespoons cold water
(Makes 2 9-inch crusts)

Filling:
3 Tablespoons white rum
1 Tablespoon water
1 envelope plain unflavored gelatin
2 cups milk
4 egg yolks
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
6 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels

Topping
2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Chocolate shavings, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Pie Crust:

Use a 9" glass dish for the pie.

Begin by placing the water in the freezer to cool for about 10 minutes.

To make a pie crust you will need a clean, flat counter top or silicone baking mat.

To know exactly what size to roll your crust, just be sure that it is slightly bigger than your pie plate.

Sift the flour into bowl and mix together with the salt.

Cut in butter with a pastry cutter.

You can also use two butter knives if you don't have a pastry cutter.

Continue to cut work the mixture until it resembles the texture of coarse cornmeal.

Now, use a fork to mix in the cold water until it is just incorporated.

Its okay if you see little specks of butter, and flour and the dough is not smooth.

Use clean hands to form the dough together to form a ball.

Cut the ball into two pieces and store one in a bowl with a cloth over top so it does not dry out.

Sprinkle your working surface with a bit of flour, and keep the flour nearby in case your dough gets sticky you can add more on top of the dough and also on your rolling pin.

Flatten your ball down into a disc.

Use your rolling pin to roll out dough. Push from the center and roll evenly to the edges. Keep rolling and try to make a circle. If it is not perfect, it wont matter.

Don't overwork the crust.

Gently transfer the dough onto your pie plate being careful not to stretch it. Trim edge to 3/4 inch overhand, fold overhand under and flute edge. Line with foil; fill with pie weights or dried beans.

Bake in bottom third of oven for 15 minutes. Remove weights and foil. Prick shell all over and bake for 10 more minutes or until golden. Let cool on rack.

*As you only need one crust for this recipe you can freeze the second crust for another time.

To freeze - wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store for up to 1 month. When you need, defrost the night before and roll out following the same instructions.

Filling:

In a small bowl combine the rum, water and gelatin. Stir and set aside until gelatin has softened, about 5 minutes.

In a saucepan combine the milk, egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch and stir or whisk until thoroughly combined.

Heat over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, whisking constantly.

Remove from the heat and add the gelatin mixture. Stir until smooth, then transfer 1 cup of the hot mixture to a clean mixing bowl and add the chocolate morsels.

Stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Transfer the chocolate mixture into the cooled crust and refrigerate, lightly covered, for 30 minutes.

In the meanwhile, leave the remaining custard in the pot, allowing it to continue cooling on the counter.

After 30 minutes, make the topping.

Pour the heavy cream and the confectioners' sugar to a medium mixing bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.

Remove 1 cup of the whipped cream and fold it into the remaining custard mixture.

Remove the pie from the refrigerator and fill with the custard.

Top with the remaining whipped cream and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled and set, at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

When ready to serve, garnish the pie with chocolate curls and cut into slices. Serve cold.