Description
Dark Chocolate Chess Pie brings serious Southern comfort right to your dessert table. Smooth chocolate goodness nestles into a flaky crust, delivering pure chocolatey bliss that disappears faster than you can slice a wedge.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients:
- 4 eggs
- 200 g granulated sugar
- 106 g dark brown sugar
- 113 g unsalted butter
- 56 g bittersweet chocolate
- 113 g whole milk
Supporting Ingredients:
- 200 g all-purpose flour
- 25 g cornmeal
- 21 g dutch process cocoa powder
Flavor Enhancers:
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 24 g vodka
- 0.5 teaspoon kosher salt
- 0.5 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Blend flour and salt in a medium bowl, then dice cold butter into small cubes and toss through the flour mixture. Crush butter into dry ingredients using fingertips until quarter-sized chunks remain.
- Sprinkle 2 tablespoons vodka and tiny amounts of ice water into the dough. Gently toss and combine until the dough just holds together without being too wet.
- Wrap the dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll out on a floured surface into a rectangle, then fold into quarters. Wrap again and chill for 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough again, repeat the folding process. Shape into a disk, wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
- Roll out pie dough to ⅛-inch thickness in a circular shape. Carefully transfer to a pie pan, pressing against sides. Trim excess dough and crimp edges.
- Use a fork to dock the entire crust bottom and sides. Chill for 20-30 minutes.
- Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Cover crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights.
- Bake on the hot sheet for 18 minutes. Remove weights, brush with egg wash, and bake 3-5 more minutes until barely golden.
- Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Melt 8 tablespoons butter, 2 oz chocolate, ¼ cup cocoa powder, espresso powder, salt, and ½ cup milk in a saucepan over low-medium heat.
- In a large bowl, beat 1 cup granulated sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, 3 tablespoons cornmeal, 4 eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla until lighter and doubled in volume.
- Slowly mix the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture until fully combined.
- Pour filling into cooled crust. Wrap foil around crust edges to prevent burning.
- Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until set and slightly puffed. Cool for at least 2 hours before serving.
Notes
- Blind bake the crust carefully to ensure a crisp, flaky base that won’t get soggy from the rich chocolate filling.
- Use high-quality dark chocolate for the most intense, deep flavor that truly makes this pie special.
- Chill the dough multiple times during preparation to keep the butter cold, which creates those perfect, tender layers in your pie crust.
- Let the pie cool completely before slicing to allow the filling to set properly, giving you clean, beautiful pieces that showcase the smooth chocolate texture.
- Prep Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 23 minutes
- Category: Pies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8
- Calories: 374 kcal
- Sugar: 32 g
- Sodium: 120 mg
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated Fat: 13 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8 g
- Trans Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 40 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 110 mg