These The Best Chocolate Cream Pie Bites are great for a crowd, and perhaps even better as a bite-sized treat to share with a loved one on a special occasion.
You’ll Need:
- Homemade All Butter Pie Crust or 2 pre-made, ready to roll pie crusts
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 4 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 egg yolks + 1 egg for egg wash
- 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Topping
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- bittersweet chocolate curls, for garnish
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour (or use nonstick cooking spray) a mini-muffin pan. Set aside.
- Roll the dough or pie crust out on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin.
- Using a round cookie or biscuit cutter (approximately 3 inches diamater) cut at least 24 rounds out ( or 12 rounds of each pie crust, if using store bought)
- Carefully press each round into the mini-muffin pan. Use your fingers to round the ends into a pie crust. Brush egg wash from one egg to the top edges of each pie.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden around the edges. Remove from oven and let the crust cool while you make the filling. Once cooled, use the tip of a knife to loosen the crusts from the mini muffin cups, but keep them in the pan.
- Filling : In a saucepan, heat the half and half until it starts to simmer. Remove the pan from the heat.
- In a large heat-proof bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch, add egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
- Pour the hot half-and-half into the egg yolk mixture in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Keep pouring, whisking constantly, until you’ve added all the hot half-and-half.
- Once all of the half and half has been added, pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until bubbles rise to the surface and mixture is very thick, about 3–4 minutes. (it should coat the back of a spoon nicely).
- Remove pan from heat and add the butter and chopped chocolate to the hot mixture in small handfuls. Mix together until thoroughly incorporated. (it should look like a big pot of hot chocolate pudding) Stir in the vanilla and whisk to incorporate, then immediately pour the filling through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl.
- Spoon mixture into each baked and cooled mini pie crust almost up to the top. Refrigerate the pie bites until the filling is cold and firm, at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Topping : When ready to serve, whip the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla together until stiff peaks form. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with finely grated semisweet or bittersweet chocolate on top, and garnish with bittersweet chocolate curls before serving. Keep refrigerated.
