No Bake Frozen Chocolate Pie

Valentine's Day this week. I don't observe it sentimentally, but I don't ignore it either — Helen loved the holiday, or rather she loved an excuse for good chocolate and something a little more elaborate than a Tuesday dinner. I've kept a version of that. I made a chocolate pot de crème this year, from a recipe in the 1987 notebook that she'd marked with two asterisks and the note: "This is the one." I'd been saving it for the right occasion. This seemed right.

The pot de crème: bittersweet chocolate, cream and egg yolks, a touch of espresso. Baked in a water bath at low temperature, the custard setting to something dense and smooth and deeply flavored. I made six small ramekins and ate one that evening and put the rest in the refrigerator to give away: Carol got two, Ted Marchand got one, I ate the other two over the next two days. It was the one. Helen wasn't wrong about things like that.

Carol came on Sunday for our standing dinner. She brought a small book she'd found in a secondhand shop in Stowe, a history of Vermont maple production, which she knew I'd want to read. We ate a simple roast chicken and drank a glass of wine and she read a passage from the book about the 1816 frost that destroyed the maple crop statewide. I said: what did they do? She read: they made hard cider instead, using apples that survived. I said: that sounds right. She said: everything comes from something else when the first thing doesn't work. I said: yes. That's right.

The pot de crème from Helen’s notebook was hers — two asterisks and a verdict, and I finally honored it. But for anyone who wants that same deep, satisfying chocolate without a water bath and a half-dozen ramekins, this no-bake frozen chocolate pie lands in the same spirit: rich, make-ahead, and exactly the kind of thing you’d want to share with a Carol or a Ted Marchand. It keeps beautifully in the freezer, which means you can make it once and give most of it away — which, as it turns out, is not a bad way to observe Valentine’s Day at all.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes (plus freezing) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 pre-made chocolate cookie crust (9-inch)
2 packages (3.9 oz each) instant chocolate pudding mix
2 cups cold whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, shaved or grated, for garnish
Pinch of fine sea salt

Instructions

Make the pudding base. In a large bowl, whisk together both packages of instant chocolate pudding mix and the cold milk until the mixture thickens noticeably, about 2 minutes. Set aside.
Whip the cream. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat 1 1/2 cups of the heavy whipping cream with the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and pinch of salt on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 3—4 minutes.
Fold together. Gently fold the whipped cream into the pudding base in two additions, using a rubber spatula, until just combined and no streaks remain. Take care not to deflate the cream.
Fill the crust. Pour the filling into the prepared chocolate cookie crust and smooth the top with a spatula.
Freeze. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until the filling is completely firm.
Finish and serve. Remove the pie from the freezer 8—10 minutes before slicing to allow it to soften slightly. Whip the remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream to soft peaks and dollop over each slice. Top with shaved bittersweet chocolate before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

No Bake Frozen Chocolate Pie — The One Helen Would Have Saved with Two Asterisks