Classic Diner-Style Chocolate Pie

Okay, so I have a confession.

Two Christmases ago (Christmas 2011), my sister and I made these big plans to bake a bunch of Christmas cookies. We narrowed it down to six different, scrumptious recipes. We divvied up who would buy what ingredients. We bought the supplies to package them up super cute (and they were SUPER cute).

Then we never made the cookies.

We didn't bake a single one. And we ended up returning all the adorable little plastic pails the cookies never graced.

But that's not my confession.

Most of the ingredients were pretty typical things that were pretty quickly used up in my regular baking and such. Except for the Nabisco chocolate wafers.

I felt like they were kind of hard to find, so I held on to them. And they have been sitting in my pantry ever since.

UNTIL NOW!

I used them for the crust of this chocolate pie. And do the math: they were over 16 months old! Way past their "best if used by" date. 

But my family is not dead from eating old cookies. They didn't even notice until I told them (after they'd already eaten plenty of pie). 

Moral of the story: Nabisco Chocolate Wafers hold up remarkably well, and chocolate pie covers many sins. 

Classic Diner-Style Chocolate Pie (printable recipe)

Recipe courtesy of Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Copied with permission.

Ingredients 30 (about 6 oz.) chocolate wafer cookies 1 Tbsp sugar 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted 1/2 c sugar 3 Tbsp chocolate malt Ovaltine 1 tsp salt 1/4 c cornstarch 5 large egg yolks 2 c whole milk 1/2 c heavy cream 5 oz. dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao), chopped 2 oz. milk chocolate, chopped 1 tsp vanilla 2 tsp whiskey (I did not use this) whipped cream Cooking Directions In a food processor, grind the cookies to a very fine powder--you should have about 1 1/2 cups. Put crumbs in a bowl and stir in the sugar. Pour butter over the crumb mixture and mix until well combined. The mixture will feel wet. Turn the crumb mixture out into a 9-inch pie plate and press it into the bottom and up the sides. Freeze the crust while you make the filling. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, Ovaltine, salt, and cornstarch. Add the egg yolks and whisk until combined. The mixture will look like a thick paste. Slowly pour in the milk and cream, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly to prevent burning. Boil for 30 seconds, then remove from the heat. Add the chocolates, whiskey, and vanilla and whisk until combined. Continue to whisk for a few minutes to cool the mixture slightly. Let the mixture stand for 15 minutes at room temperature. A thin skin may form as it cools; simply whisk the mixture again until the skin is gone. Pour the filling into the frozen pie shell. Refrigerate 4 hours before serving. Top with whipped cream, if desired.