Chocolate Pudding Pretzel Pie
Ingredients
Pretzel Crust:
- 3 ½ cups (about 156 g) pretzel sticks (lightly broken in pieces to fit in the measuring cup if measuring instead of weighing)
- ¼ cup (53 g) light brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons (85 g) salted butter, melted
Chocolate Ganache:
- 3 ounces (85 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chips or bar chocolate
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Pudding:
- 2 ½ cups milk
- 5 ounces (142 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chips or bar chocolate
- 5 large egg yolks
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Creamy Topping:
- 4 ounces (113 g) cream cheese, softened
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Chocolate curls for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- For the crust, crush the pretzels in a blender or food processor until finely chopped. Stir in the brown sugar and butter. Press the pretzel mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
- Bake for 8 minutes. Let cool for 15-20 minutes.
- For the ganache, chop the chocolate if using bar chocolate. Place the chocolate in a small bowl. Heat the cream to just barely simmering in the microwave or on the stovetop. Pour the cream over the chocolate. Let sit without stirring for 2-3 minutes. Stir until glossy and smooth. Spread evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pie crust (it will be a pretty thin layer, don't worry if there are a few bare spots here and there). Refrigerate until set.
- For the pudding, in a medium saucepan, combine the milk and chocolate (chop the chocolate in pieces if using bar chocolate). Heat over medium-low until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is warm.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Carefully ladle in 1/2 cup or so of the warm milk mixture into the bowl, whisking vigorously (this is tempering the eggs so they don't curdle when cooked on the stovetop). Continue ladling in another one or two scoops of the milk mixture and whisk until the egg mixture is smooth.
- Pour the tempered egg mixture into the saucepan with the remaining chocolate milk mixture, whisking constantly. Cook over medium heat, continuing to whisk the entire time, until the mixture is bubbling and thick, 4-5 minutes.
- Off the heat, stir in the vanilla. Transfer the pudding to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the pudding come to room temperature. Spread the pudding evenly in the pie plate. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours until the pudding is somewhat set.
- For the creamy topping, whip together the cream cheese and powdered sugar with an electric mixer (I often do this in my Blendtec blender) until creamy and smooth. Stir in the vanilla and heavy cream and whip until the mixture is thick and well-combined.
- Spread the creamy topping over the chocolate pudding. Top with chocolate curls or sprinkles, if desired.
- Chill the pie for another 2-3 hours before serving.
Notes
Plan Ahead: keep in mind that this pie needs to set up and chill so plan ahead for that - it can be made a day ahead of time with good results.
For the Chocolate Curls: I usually get a large block of chocolate, heat it just barely in the microwave and shave curls off the sides with my vegetable peeler. Otherwise, you can use this method from the chocolate cheesecake post.