No Bake Treats is, without a doubt, one of my most loved cookbooks and I’ve only had it for a few months! How unique to have a dessert cookbook dedicated to NOT using the oven?! It’s been wonderful to bake from, errrr, make from this miserably hot summer. Julianne’s effortless, yet downright mouthwatering recipes inspired me to give icebox cakes a try and I even tested out her tiramisu pudding cake (on page 92!) the other week. Needless to say, I’m addicted to this book. The latest recipe I tried is something I’ve gotta share with you. A lot of you have requested a chocolate pudding pie recipe and while there’s a mint chocolate pudding pie in Sally’s Candy Addiction, I’ve never really walked you through the steps of making one here on my blog. Perfect opportunity to showcase Julianne’s talent while stuffing our faces with homemade chocolate pudding. Sit back, relax, and grab your whisk. Always a fan of texture, I especially love the crunchy and toasty graham cracker crust underneath the silky and smooth chocolate pudding layer. Talk about a dream pie. Julianne’s recipe doesn’t call for pre-baking the crust but I love the toasty flavor it gets from a few minutes in the oven, so I pre-baked mine. So… yes. You will need your oven if you pre-bake it like I did, but it’s only for a few minutes. This is a super thick and buttery crust. If graham cracker crusts are your thing, you’re going to fall in love with this pie as much as I did. And the crust is two ingredients: graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. You could use an Oreo cookie crust instead if you’d like. See recipe Note below. Now that the crust is prepped, let’s chat about the homemade pudding. There are many ways to make pudding. You can go to the store and buy a box of pudding or you can go to the stove and whisk pudding together in 10 minutes. Both are very tasty, but the homemade route just warms the soul, doesn’t it? Homemade pudding is so comforting! Chocolate pudding is only made with a few ingredients, but each ingredient is imperative in the final texture and taste. You’ll need gelatin, sugar for sweetness, flour for thickening. Milk because it’s milk and you definitely need milk in pudding and chocolate of course too. I suggest using a dark or bittersweet chocolate. If semi-sweet or milk chocolate, your pudding will be very sweet and all you’ll taste is sugar with a small side of chocolate. We REALLY want this pie to taste chocolate-y! I simply used a bittersweet chocolate bar, but dark chocolate chips would work well too. Oh! And egg yolks for structure, thickening, and richness. Now about the egg yolks: they are tempered. Meaning you will slowly pour a little of the warm mixture from the pot (the milk, sugar, gelatin) into the beaten egg yolks, then slowly pour that back into the pot. It’s the same process we use to make mocha chocolate pudding pie. You’re tempering them so your pudding doesn’t turn into scrambled chocolate eggs. Caaaaaan you imagine. This process helps the pudding set so you can get clean slices of pie—it’s more sturdy than chocolate dirt pudding. Besides that, making pudding just requires some whisking. If you know how to whisk, you know how to make homemade pudding. Pour the pudding into the crust, then chill it for a few hours to set. Next up? The topping. Oh my heavens the topping! The topping is whipped cream: plain, lightly sweet, and homemade! Whip it until stiff peaks form, then spread the whole thing over the chilled pudding center. The whipped cream is billowy and soft, the perfect compliment to the crunchy crust and rich chocolate pudding underneath. Julianne tops her pudding pie with chocolate shavings but I had some raspberries to use up so I dotted them all over the top. Mint for pretty color too, of course. This is such a simple dessert! No frills, complications, or over-the-top craziness (looking at you, BROOKIE) yet completely delectable and refined with 3 glorious layers that’ll knock your socks off. Pie goals. 🙂
