Americas test kitchen chocolate cream pie

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

Learn how to prepare Chocolate Cream Pie from "America's Test Kitchen from Cook's Illustrated."

There’s no better match for our tender, flaky pie crust than a chocolate cream filling. There’s no better match for our tender, flaky pie crust than a chocolate cream filling. For a deeply chocolaty mixture that is not too heavy, we make a milk-based cocoa pudding and then whisk in bittersweet chocolate, along with vanilla for extra depth. A few tablespoons of butter help the filling set up with a silky consistency once it is poured into the prebaked pie shell and refrigerated. Finally, we…

In our early experiments, this pie was no angel: The meringue crust stuck and the chocolate flavor was faint. For a pie with a balance of chocolate filling, crisp meringue, and fluffy whipped cream, we needed to boost the chocolate flavor. By making a cooked custard, we were able to load nearly a pound of chocolate into the filling, and using part milk and part bittersweet chocolate lent depth and complexity. True meringue takes time, and we found that 2½ hours in the oven was necessary for…

There’s no better match for our tender, flaky pie crust than a chocolate cream filling.

The familiar campfire treat reimagined as a party-worthy pie. To transfer the gloriousness of campfire s'mores into pie form, we broke it down into layers. A hefty graham cracker crust gave support for a substantial filling. A double dose of chocolate—a fudgy dark chocolate brownie and a layer of milk chocolate ganache—provided rich chocolate flavor but wasn't overly sweet. The right balance of heavy cream and corn syrup in the ganache allowed it to be firm when cold but soft and gooey when…

Indulge in nostalgia with our Old Fashioned Chocolate Cream Pie. Silky cocoa filling in a buttery crust. A timeless dessert reimagined.

Dark Chocolate Cream Pie