Grand Central Bakery | Chocolate Cream Pie

Chocolate Cream Pie

I'm not really the cream pie type, and I blame it on JP Patches, the early morning clown of my Seattle childhood.

Scary!

He'd hear a knock on the door and open it only to get a pie in the face. See for yourself on YouTube! I never thought it was funny and I still don't. Seemed like such a waste of pie and I was always worried that JP would suffocate.

Childhood trauma aside I still consider myself a fruit pie girl and this time of year I'm faced with a dearth of local winter fruit in Oregon and my own inadequate job of "putting up" fruit last summer (unlike my friend and colleague Laura - see her January Baking Blog). So when I set out to develop a new winter recipe for our U-Bake pie crusts I felt I had no choice but to turn to cream pie and since we are on the eve of Valentine's Day - chocolate cream pie at that!

I can't tell any cute family stories about this pie. I don't think my mother ever made a chocolate cream pie. I do have a foggy memory of a babysitter and some chocolate pudding from a box....

I do start with chocolate pudding, but it doesn't come from a box. I don't want to make trouble with the fine folks at Jello, but I think most people would be amazed at how fast and easy it is to say goodbye to the box and make pudding from scratch. Chocolate pudding is just eggs, sugar, milk and corn starch with a healthy amount of melted high-quality semi sweet chips.

Pouring the puddin'

In addition to my post traumatic pie in the face disorder, I think my non-cream pie identity stems from my perception that a cream pie is somehow complex and fussy - more fluff than substance. But like most of my prejudices, this one is completely off base.

Assembling the pie was fast, easy, and fun. I especially enjoyed making the cream topping look super pretty.

Yummy!

Go on and try my recipe! You can make it even easier with Grand Central's U-Bake Pie Shell. If you live in Seattle, come to our Chocolate Cream Pie U-Bake Demo on February 10th. But remember this pie is for eating not throwing....