I’ve always said that I don’t have a sweet tooth. For the large part, that’s true. I’ll take a handful of salty pretzels over chocolate almost any day.

However.

Dulce de leche might be my undoing. It’s seriously so, so, so good.

I found myself tiptoeing over to the fridge with a spoon in hand. “I’ll just, um, taste it again to make sure it’s good enough to post on The Hungry Mouse.”

Yeah, right.

So, hello, sweet tooth. You might just be a baby, but I’m afraid you’re definitely here to stay. At least, as long as I have a jar of this dark brown, caramel-y goodness in the fridge.

What is dulce de leche?

Dulce de leche is a popular Latin American sweet that translates roughly into something like milk jam or milk candy. In French, that’s confiture de lait, which sounds way more appealing (or maybe I just like saying “confiture”).

Dulce de leche is a caramel spread that’s made by reducing milk, sugar, and vanilla until the concoction is so thick you can stand up a spoon in it or slather it on bread.

How to make dulce de leche

I made my dulce de leche from Alton Brown’s recipe. You need about 3 hours and precisely 4 ingredients: whole milk, sugar, a whole vanilla bean, and a little baking soda.

I think next time, I might try David Lebovitz’s method, which has you nestle a pan of sweetened condensed milk in a water bath, then bake it in the oven for an hour and a half.

You know, strictly in the interest of science.

What can you do with dulce de leche?

Drizzle it on ice cream. Add dollops of it into brownie batter. Swirl some into coffee or hot chocolate. Top cakes or pies. Spread it on toast. Heck, eat it with a spoon, standing in front of the fridge with the door open. It’s that good.

Don’t use skim milk

I know that there are a lot of people who balk at the idea of whole milk, and will always substitute skim milk or 2%.

Don’t do that with dulce de leche.

Seriously.

The fat in the milk makes this silky, sultry, and sumptuous. Plus, I honestly don’t know if this recipe will work with low-fat milk.

Oh! As with most things with only a few ingredients, use the best ones you can find. I used whole milk from one of our local dairies, Richardson’s.

Homemade Dulce de Leche

Recipe from Alton Brown

1 quart whole milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean, split & scraped
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Yields about 1 cup of dulce de leche

Scrape the vanilla bean

Grab a medium-sized, heavy bottomed pot. I used a 3-quart pot. Don’t use a lightweight pot for this (you know, like those fabulous, but thin, aluminum grandma pots), because you really risk scorching the milk mixture.

Toss the sugar in the pot.

Next, take your vanilla bean. I’m doing this on a white paper towel just so there’s a lot of contrast to help you see the vanilla seeds.

Split him carefully down the middle with the tip of a sharp knife.

You’ll see the vanilla seeds snuggled inside the pod, like sweet, fragrant caviar.

Run the backside of your knife (i.e. the side that’s not sharp) carefully along one half of the vanilla pod, scraping out all those glorious seeds.

Scrape the seeds into the pot with the sugar.

Don’t worry if you don’t get them all out. You just want to get most of them. Toss the vanilla bean husk into the pot with the sugar, too. (Want more fun with vanilla beans? Did you know you can make your own vanilla extract at home? All you need is vanilla beans & vodka.)

Give it a quick whisk to break up the bigger lumps of vanilla.

Add the milk.

Whisk to incorporate.

Set on the stove over medium heat. Whisk frequently until the sugar dissolves.

When the sugar has dissolved, toss in the baking soda.

Whisk to incorporate. When the mixture *just* starts to bubble, knock the heat down to low, so that it barely holds a simmer. Cook like this, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

(Warning: If your heat is too high, the milk can start to boil rapidly, which means that it can bubble up and possibly over onto your stove. Keep an eye on the pot until you’re sure that the heat is right.)

As it cooks, you’ll notice that it will start to slowly turn a lovely golden color. The surface of the mixture will also get a little frothy. That’s just fine.

You’ll also get some build up on the sides of the pot. Leave that there, don’t stir it back in.

Remove the vanilla bean after 1 hour

After the pot’s been on the stove for about 1 hour, remove the vanilla bean. Toss it. It’s done its job (and all of its little seeds are still in your pot).

Continue to cook for another 1 1/2 – 2 hours

Once you toss the vanilla bean, continue to cook the mixture (still on low heat, still uncovered), stirring occasionally, for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

As it cooks, it will continue to deepen in color.

When it’s almost done, it will be thick and syrupy.

When is it done?

To test what your dulce de leche will be like when it’s chilled, stick a small plate in the freezer for about 15 minutes. (This will be familiar to all you jam makers out there.)

When you think your dulce de leche is done, put about a teaspoon on the cold plate. Stick it back in the freezer until the dulce de leche is cold. Then, taste it and see if you’re happy. The consistency of the dulce de leche on your plate represents about how the entire pot will be once it’s chilled.

If you like it, take the pot off the heat. If you want it thicker, simmer it for another 5 minutes, then do the cold plate test again.

Strain the dulce de leche

When the dulce de leche is done, take the pot off the heat. Pour it through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium-sized bowl.

The strainer will catch any odd, clumpy bits of milk solids.

Cool & bottle

Leave the dulce de leche on the counter to cool to room temperature.

It will thicken up considerably as it cools (which is why the cold plate test is always a good idea).

When it’s cool, bottle it and stick it in the fridge. It will keep for about a month. If, of course, it lasts that long.

Enjoy!

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Autumn’s coming in New England. You can absolutely smell it in the air. The nights are starting to get just a wee bit crisp here on the coast. I’m starting to eye my sweaters and think about apple picking.

The surest sign of all that the weather’s starting to turn? I just made my first batch of braised short ribs the other night.

You know the temperature’s starting to drop when you find me in my kitchen in the evenings, nestled in by the stove with a glass of wine and a book while my big red cast-iron pot bubbles merrily away in the background.

(I’ve also started to pull down some of my cookbooks and root around for stick-to-your-ribs, cold weather fare. Stay tuned for a lot of hearty food.)

Mmmm, hot fudge

I’m gonna say this up front: It’s not my fault if you sit down and eat a bowl of this with a spoon, ok?

This recipe comes from Fine Cooking magazine’s chocolate issue. It’s good, old-fashioned hot fudge sauce, the way your grandmother used to make it.

This stuff will stiffen up in the fridge

That’s fine. Just leave it out on the counter to start to soften up, then zap it in the microwave or melt it in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. (It’s hot fudge, after all, so you were going to warm it up anway…)

Old-Fashioned Hot Fudge Sauce

From Fine Cooking magazine
6 Tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder (NOT sweetened hot chocolate mix)
1/3 cup boiling water
3 Tbls. butter
1 cup sugar
2 Tbls. light corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla

Yields about 1 1/2 cups hot fudge

Make the fudge mixture

Set a kettle of water on the stove to boil over high heat.

Put the cocoa powder in a small pot. (Be sure to use unsweetened cocoa powder, not hot chocolate mix that has sugar in it…)

When your water is boiling, measure it out. Pour about half of the boiling water into the pot with the cooca.

Stir until it forms a thick paste.

Add the rest of the water and the butter. Stir well. It will kind of look like a lumpy disaster at this point. That’s just fine. Keep going, it will smooth out as it heats up.

Set on the stove over medium heat.

Add the sugar and the corn syrup. (I like Karo brand corn syrup. If you can’t find corn syrup, try using Lyle’s Golden Syrup.)

Stir to incorporate.

(See, it’s starting to look better, right?)

Keep the mixture on the stove over medium heat and start to bring it up to a simmer.

Brush down the sides of the pot with water

This is important, so don’t skip this step.

As the mixture comes up to a simmer, brush down the insides of the pot with water to dissolve any rogue sugar crystals. (If you remember your high school science, one crystal will breed more, which will eventually turn your fudge sauce into solid candy.)

Use a pastry brush dipped in a little cold water.

Cook the sauce for 8 minutes

When the mixture comes up to a simmer, set a kitchen timer for 8 minutes. Simmer the sauce without stirring for the whole 8  minutes.

You may need to adjust the heat up or down a little, depending on your stove. Basically, you want to keep the mixture at a good simmer/low boil.

When your 8 minutes are up, remove the pan from the stove.

Add the vanilla

Stir the vanilla into the sauce with a clean wooden spoon (again, you want to avoid any pesky, undissolved sugar crystals).

And…voila! Hot fudge sauce.

Eat it and weep.

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OK, kids: This is coffee. In solid form.

It’s been sweetened with condensed milk and booze-ified with a healthy dose of Kahlua—then rubberized into a blissful, cocktail-hour finger food thanks to the magic of gelatin.

(If you know me, you know how much I love coffee, so you can imagine how excited I was when I came across the recipe.)

Now, you have to like Jello, or Jello-like food, for this to work. If you do, you’re in for a treat.

Huge thanks to The Food Librarian for sharing their deliciousness. I tweaked her recipe, and will definitely be making them again.

(If you haven’t checked out the Food Librarian’s blog, you should. She does some amazing things with jello—not to mention other yummy stuff.)

So, years ago, I had several meals that ended with Classic American Jello Mold Torture. You know the kind I’m talking about. Those domed, gelatinous creatures swimming with fruit that seem like they should be on the table at a science fair—not in your dining room.

This is not that jello.

This jello is the short and stout cousin of Vietnamese iced coffee, that fabulous concoction of espresso and condensed milk.

This is jello that you could serve to your foodie friends. If you’re me, this is also your midnight-snack jello. And since I added a good dose of Kahlua to them, I guess they’re also kind of like Jello Jigglers for grown-ups.

This stuff is silly. This stuff is good. Go make some. You’ll see.

The short version of the recipe goes like this

Bloom the gelatin (i.e. mix it together with water) for about 10 minutes. Make some coffee. Add it to the gelatin, along with the condensed milk and Kahlua. Pour it into a pan and pop it into the fridge until it sets.

That’s it.(Really.)

Read on for step-by-step instrux of what that looks like.

Oh, be sure to get sweetened condensed milk (which is milk that’s been cooked down with sugar) NOT evaporated milk (which is unsweetened).

Drunken Coffee Jello Squares

Adapted from The Food Librarian

1/2 cup cold water
1 3/4 cups strong coffee, hot (I brewed 8 Tbls. French Roast with 2 cups water)
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
3 packets of Knox unflavored gelatin
3 Tbls. Kahlua or other coffee liquor

8-inch x 8-inch glass baking pan

Brew the coffee

Make the coffee the way you normally would at home. The goal is to wind up with 1 3/4 cups of strong coffee. For me, I used 8 Tbls. French Roast to 2 cups of water.

Make the gelatin mixture

Grab your gelatin. I used regular old, unflavored Knox gelatin. You can find this in the baking aisle of most major U.S. grocery stores.

Put the water in a large bowl.

Toss in the gelatin. (Normally, I like to measure gelatin out, since the packages can have a varying amount of gelatin in them, but I went with the Food Librarian’s directions, and it came out just fine.)

Give it a stir to mix. It should immediately start to thicken and suck up the water. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. (This process is called “blooming” the gelatin. Basically, you’re rehydrating it.)

After 10 minutes, it should be rubbery but still fairly soft.

Add the hot, brewed coffee to the gelatin.

Whisk it gently (gently!!! see below…) to break up the gelatin and incorporate it with the coffee.

Pour in the condensed milk. Whisk gently to combine.

Add the Kahlua. (If you don’t fancy Kahlua, definitely swap in your favorite liquor. Anything you’d normally put in coffee should work. Amaretto, Frangelico, etc.)

Whisk to combine.

Now, I goofed here, I think. I whisked a little too vigorously, which created a lot of froth on the surface of the mixture. As the gelatin sets in the fridge, those bubbles will set on the surface. To avoid bubbly gelatin, mix gently.

Pour it into your glass pan. (No need to grease or line the pan. Jello won’t stick to glass.)

Refrigerate until set

Pop it into the fridge and refrigerate for a few hours, until set firmly. (If you do wind up with those bubbles on the surface, let it sit for about 20 minutes in the fridge, then yank it out and skim the top layer off.)

Slice, inhale, enjoy!

When your Drunken Coffee Jello Squares have set up, they should look about like this:

Slice them into squares (or cut them into shapes with little cookie cutters) and serve. The Food Librarian served them in little paper muffin cups, which sounds like a great idea to me.

Now that I have the basic method down, I think I’m going to try these next with tea! I’ll let you guys know how it goes…

Hope you guys are having a nice summer!

We’ve been spending a lot of time chasing after Miss. Penelope. I’ve also been puttering around in my herb garden, which seems to be very happy on our back porch.

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I haven’t made a souffle in a really long time.

Contrary to popular belief, souffles are actually pretty easy to make. You just need to follow a few rules—and not breakdance in the kitchen when they’re in the oven. (One of my souffles did flop on me, but it was totally my fault. Read on and you’ll see why.)

This particular souffle recipe comes from the good folks at Fine Cooking magazine, and features orange marmalade—one of my favorite substances on the planet. (I swear I don’t eat it straight out of the jar. Most of the time.)

These souffles get a triple dose of citrus flavor from a syrupy mixture of marmalade, orange liqueur, and lemon juice.

The tops bake into beautiful, almost-chewy meringues that are rimmed with little bits of crunchy sugar. The insides are soft, airy orange-scented bliss shot through with bits of candylike rind.

An added bonus? This recipe qualifies as gluten free.

Souffle ingredients

Now, this recipe only has a handful of ingredients. Sugar. Marmalade, of course. I like Bonne Maman brand, but use any kind you like. Orange liqueur. (I used Triple Sec, but Cointreau would be good, too.)

Lemon juice. Egg whites. Cream of tartar.

What is cream of tartar?

Cream of tartar is most often used in the kitchen to stabilize egg whites as you beat them and give them more volume. It also finds its way into candies and frostings to help keep them nice and creamy.

Where does cream of tartar come from? It’s actually (drum roll, please) a byproduct of making wine.

Wine?

Yep, wine. (Potassium bitartrate from the grapes crystallizes on the insides of wine casks.) Most American markets will keep it with the spices or the baking supplies. It’s white powdery stuff and comes in a small jar.

What makes a souffle rise?

I’m oversimplifying a little, but two things make a souffle rise: Air and protein.

When you beat the egg whites, you’re incorporating lots of air into them. These air bubbles will expand in the oven and cause your souffle to rise. The heat from the oven will also stabilize the protein in the whites, which gives the souffle its (albeit fragile) structure.

8 tips for making a perfect souffle

Here are some tips that will improve your chances of souffle success:

1. Make them, then serve them. Souffles need to be served hot out of the oven.
2. Bring the egg whites to room temperature before you beat them. They’ll take more air that way. (More air = more height.)
3. Carefully separate your egg whites from the yolks. Any traces of fat from the yolks will keep the whites from beating up properly.
4. Use a very (very, very) clean bowl to whip your whites.
5. Be sure to beat the egg whites long enough. That means to stiff peaks (not soft peaks). But don’t overbeat them to the point where they get grainy (you can actually destabilize that network of air bubbles you worked so hard to create).
6. Fold the egg whites into the marmalade mixture gently. (Don’t stir it. Don’t beat it. You don’t want to deflate the whites.)
7. Test the souffles for doneness by inserting a metal skewer into them. Like testing a cake, the skewer should come out clean, not covered in egg-y mixture.
8. Don’t jump around in the kitchen when the souffles are in the oven.

All that said, sometimes your souffle will flop

I said earlier that one of my souffles flopped—and that it was my fault. It was.

This recipe makes six individual souffles.

Now, I only have four ramekins at home. (You see where this is going.) I made the full recipe, and figured I’d just bake them a little longer. Turns out, I filled one too much and didn’t bake it long enough.

Three of my souffles came out well. The fourth—one that got a little more of the souffle mixture than the others—flopped.

I would have known this was going to happen—if I tested them with a metal skewer. Which I didn’t. So two strikes against The Mouse. I did, however, wind up with three perfectly lovely souffles, so I’m still considering this a victory.

The moral of the story? Use this recipe, but follow the instructions and fill six ramekins. (Six. Not four. Sigh.)

Marmalade Souffles

Recipe from Fine Cooking magazine

Butter
3 Tbls. sugar + more for the ramekins
2/3 cup marmalade
1 Tbls. lemon juice
1 Tbls. triple sec
2 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar (about 1/16th of a teaspoon or so)

Makes 6 individual soufflees (in 6 oz. ramekins)

How to position your oven racks

Do this first. It’ll only take a sec, and you won’t want to stop to do it once the souffles are ready to go into the oven. You’re going to bake the souffles on the bottom rack. Move the top rack so that you give your souffles about six inches of headroom.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Coat the ramekins with butter and sugar

Grab your ramekins. Generously butter the insides, making sure to get in all the corners.

Put a spoonful of sugar in one.

Roll the sugar around in the ramekin until it coats the bottom and sides.

When it’s coated, tap the excess sugar out. (Tap the sugar out over the next ramekin to use up all the sugar.) Repeat until you’ve coated all the buttered ramekins.

As the souffle rises in the oven, a little bit of this sugar will stick to the edges, providing a really nice texture and crunch.

Make marmalade mixture

Put the marmalade into a large mixing bowl.

Add the lemon juice and orange liqueur to the bowl.

Whisk it all together until it’s uniform.

Like this. Set it aside while you deal with the egg whites.

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks

Measure out your sugar and set it aside.

Put the egg whites in the bowl of your mixer—or in a large mixing bowl if you’re using a handheld mixer or beating by hand. (I started mine out in my KitchenAid, then switched to beating by hand because my whisk attachment wasn’t quite getting to the bottom of the bowl…two egg whites isn’t a lot.)

Be sure that you don’t get any yolk in the whites. The fat in the yolks will keep them from poofing up properly.

Toss in a pinch of cream of tartar. Beat the egg whites until they’re frothy.

When they start to get thick and opaque, start to sprinkle in the sugar little by little, beating as you go. You should notice the whites increase in volume and get glossy.

Stop beating when they hold a stiff peak, like this. (A stiff peak will stand up straight. A soft peak will flop over.)

Fold the beaten egg whites into the marmalade

Scoop about a third of your beaten egg whites into the bowl with the marmalade mixture.

Gently fold them in. Use a light hand. The goal is to knock as little air out of the egg whites as possible. (Less air = less poof when they bake.)

When you’ve incorporated the egg whites, fold in another third.

Then fold in the last third.

Your finished mixture should look about like this.

Fill each ramekin about halfway. Use all six ramekins. Don’t overfill them. (Remember my flopped souffle above.)

Bake the souffles

Put the ramekins on a sheet pan. Pop the pan into your preheated, 425-degree oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the top is a nutty brown color.

As they bake, they’ll start to poof up.

And poof…

…and poof (it’s that tall one on the back right that flopped on me)…

They’re done when the top looks about like this.

Serve them immediately.

Enjoy!

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Oh, I’m sorry! Didn’t see you there! How embarrassing. I seem to be covered in pie.

Seriously, though: Be still my heart. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but this has got to be one of the best desserts I’ve made in a long time.

Cookie crust, chocolate filling, whipped cream on top

Yep, even better than that Chocolate Caramel Tart. (And yes, this is another recipe from Saveur magazine. There’s something about their food photography that compels me to make a big, chocolate-y mess of my kitchen at least once a month.)

I should admit: I have a special spot in my heart for old-fashioned desserts—especially if it’s the kind of thing that you’re likely to find in the spinning dessert case at a 1950s-style diner.

This pie totally fits the bill.

The crust is made from chocolate cookie crumbs held together with brown sugar and butter which makes it crisp and caramel-y.

The chocolate filling is smooth and velvety, with intense chocolate flavor. (Think chocolate pudding on steroids.)

It’s insanely rich, and thickened with a combination of egg yolks and a little bit of cornstarch.

The whipped cream topping is light, airy, and slightly sweet.

Honestly? The whole thing is ridiculously delicious and it took all my will power to not gobble down the whole pie in one sitting.

A note on ingredients for chocolate cream pie

I made the crust using Nabisco’s Famous Chocolate Wafers. You know: The kind your grandmother probably used to make that whipped cream refrigerator cake. (I’m going to do one of those soon, just because they’re so much fun to make.)

Most American grocery stores will carry them. If you can’t find ‘em, just use any plain, firm chocolate cookie (no toppings or fillings).

Try (try!) not to eat too many. You’ll want to use pretty much the whole 9-0unce box.

The recipe calls for half-and-half (10%-18% butterfat). If you can’t find the right stuff, make your own by combining 50 percent milk and 50 percent cream.

Use your favorite kind of good chocolate. (Remember, the chocolate provides the main flavor.) Make chopping easy and slip free by using a serrated bread knife.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Based on the original recipe from Saveur magazine, Issue #126

Crust
8 Tbls. butter
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 (9-oz.) package chocolate wafer cookies

Filling
3 1/2 cups half-and-half
8 Tbls. butter, cut into hunks
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
9 egg yolks
9 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Topping
2 cups heavy cream
2 Tbls. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Yields 1 (9-inch) pie

Grease a 9-inch glass pie plate lightly and set it aside. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Make the cookie crumbs

Grab your cookies. You need to turn them into cookie crumbs. You can do this in a food processor, but I usually just opt for the bag-and-bash method.

Bag-and-bash? Toss the cookies in a large, zip-top bag.

And whack away with a rolling pin until you’ve crushed them to bits.

Aim for the consistency of potting soil.

Make the Crust

Get the butter melting in a medium-sized pot over medium heat.

Toss in the brown sugar.

Whisk until the brown sugar is dissolved in the butter.

Pour the mixture into a large bowl.

Add the chocolate cookie crumbs.

Stir well to combine.

It will take a minute or two, but you should be able to moisten all the crumbs.

Like this.

Pour the mixture into your greased pie plate.

Smoosh the crumbs down and spread them out so they fill the pie plate.

You want the crumbs to come up the sides.

Then press the crumbs down more with the bottom of a measuring cup or glass.

Be sure to get around the edge of the pie plate, so the crust isn’t too, too thick there.

Slide a finger around the edge to knock off any extra crumbs. This will help the crust keep a nice edge when you serve it.

Pop the crust into the fridge for about 20 minutes to chill. Then bake in a 350-degree oven for 10-15 minutes, until set.

Yank it out of the oven and set it aside to cool.

Make the chocolate cream filling

Put the half-and-half in a 3-quart pot.

Set it on the stove over medium-high heat until it *just* starts to bubble (keep a good eye on it so it doesn’t scorch).

While it’s heating, combine the sugar and cornstarch in a large, heat-proof bowl. Whisk together until uniform. It will look kinda like baby powder.

Add the egg yolks to the sugar/cornstarch mixture.

Whisk until combined.

Pour the hot half-and-half into the egg yolk mixture in a thin stream. (Emphasis on *thin* here. You want to temper, i.e. raise, the temperature of the egg yolks gently. Pour it all in at once, and there’s a good chance the eggs will scramble.)

Keep pouring, whisking constantly, until you’ve added all the hot half-and-half.

Then pour the hot mixture back into the pot.

Make sure that your butter and chocolate are chopped, ready, and waiting.

Set the pot back on the stove over medium heat.

Whisk it constantly for maybe 4 minutes. It will thicken considerably. When it’s thick (it should coat the back of a spoon nicely), yank it off the heat.

Add the butter and chopped chocolate to the hot mixture in small handfuls. Whisk to melt and incorporate.

Keep adding the butter and chocolate in batches, whisking all the while, until it’s all in the pot.

When you’re done, you’ll have what looks like a big pot of hot chocolate pudding. Add the vanilla and whisk to incorporate.

Set a mesh strainer over a large bowl. Pour the mixture through the strainer. (This is to catch any bits of egg that may have solidified.)

Resist the urge to jump in the bowl and swim around with your mouth open.

Press a piece of plastic wrap to the top of the mixture while it’s hot.

Be sure to get right to the edges. The plastic wrap will keep the filling from developing a thick skin as it cools.

Pop the filling into the fridge for about 4 hours, or until chilled throughout. As it cools, it will thicken up.

Assemble the chocolate cream pie!

When the filling is chilled, yank it out of the fridge. Peel off the plastic wrap. Stir the filling until smooth.

Pour the filling into your prepared crust.

Smooth it down into a nice dome with a rubber spatula.

Whip the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla together until nice and thick.

You want the whipped cream to hold a stiff peak, like this:

Gently scoop the whipped cream onto the chocolate filling.

Smooth the whipped cream down so that it completely covers the chocolate filling.

Pop into the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.

Make the chocolate shavings

Now, you could totally just grate chocolate on top of this pie with a grater and serve it. To take it over the top, though, make these chocolate slivers.

Put your chocolate chips in a bowl.

Zap them in the microwave long enough to melt them (mine took about 2 minutes on high).

Stir the chips around until the chocolate is totally melted.

Put the melted chocolate on a piece of parchment paper or wax paper.

Spread it as thin as you can with a spatula.

Thin as in, really thin:

Pop it into the freezer for about 15 minutes, or until it’s totally solid again. (I draped mine over a baking dish because a plate wouldn’t fit…)

Yank it out of the freezer when the chocolate is hard.

Roll the paper up to break the chocolate into shards. If your shards come out a little clunky looking, like mine did, just chop them into slivers with a sharp knife.

Serve and enjoy!

Serve thick slices topped with chocolate slivers.

Enjoy!

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