Cook's Illustrated

Chocolate Cream Pie

Published May 1, 2001.

Two kinds of chocolate and Oreo cookies produce a pie with rich chocolate flavor and an easy-to-slice crust.

The Problem

Chocolate cream pies can look superb but are often gummy, gluey, overly sweet, and impossible to slice.

The Goal

We wanted a voluptuously creamy pie, with a well-balanced chocolate flavor somewhere between milkshake and melted candy bar, and a delicious, easy-to-slice crust.

The Solution

A combination of semisweet and unsweetened chocolate produced the ultimate rounded, intense chocolate flavor. Custard texture depended upon carefully pouring the egg yolk mixture into simmering half-and-half, then whisking in cold butter. After testing every type of cookie on the market, we hit on pulverized Oreos and a bit of melted butter for the tastiest, most tender, sliceable crumb crust.

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