Recipe Box: Chocolate Cream Pie from Scratch

If you've ever had real chocolate cream pie, the kind not made from a pudding mix, you know what I'm talking about.  I started out using Emeril Lagasse's recipe on the Food Network for the filling, and found it horribly, over-the-top sweet.  It was so over-sugared that you couldn't really tell there was chocolate or cream in there as well.  So I gave it a makeover, with less sugar, more chocolate, and a gluten-free crust.

For the crust:

I use this gluten-free pie crust recipe from Land O'Lakes.  You can eliminate at least the extra xanthan gum from the recipe, and possibly from the flour mix as well (although it might be more fragile). 

Filling:

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, plus 1/2 cup to use later
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup white sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped or grated (I used 3/4 cup of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips, which work as-is)
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract plus 1/2 teaspoon to use later
4 egg yolks

1. Set up the egg yolks in their own small bowl (with room for whisking)
2. Set up the chocolate, butter, and vanilla in a medium glass or metal mixing bowl (heat-resistant)
3. Put 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, milk, sugar, and corn starch in a medium pot.  Stir until sugar is dissolved.
4. Heat sugar/cream mixture over medium-high heat, stirring constantly and whisking occasionally.  Once it boils, turn down heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, stirring.
5. Temper the eggs by adding a tablespoon of the cooking mixture slowly into the egg yolks while whisking the yolks.  Repeat for two more tablespoons.
6. Add the tempered egg mixture back into the cooking pot and whisk well for 2 minutes. 
7. Pour the mix into the bowl with the chocolate, butter and vanilla.  Whisk until the chocolate and butter are melted.
8. Cover the mix with plastic wrap in contact with the surface (to keep a skin from forming) and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
9. After 30 minutes, whip the remaining 1/2 cup of whipping cream and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla to stiff peaks. 
10. Gently fold the whipped cream into the chocolate custard.
11. Pour mix into the baked pie crust
12. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight, to fully firm up before serving. 

  Whip up additional cream to top when serving.