I never ever feature other cooks or chefs on my blog, not because I don’t want to, but it’s more like we never have other cooks or chefs that grace us with their presence aside from Heather, Mayeth and/or Brett. OK, maybe I don’t want to share but..last night that all changed!
13 year old Alexander Paul Matla (yes, my son) decided to make his first dessert to celebrate his sister’s Permanent Resident status in Singapore. The dessert? Chocolate S’more Pie…with all the trimmings! As a treat, I promised to share the spotlight and give Alex a well deserved top spot on our blog! Son, this one’s for you!
This is a three part recipe and you’ll need to prep your ingredients in these stages:
One: The Crust:
1 package of graham crackers
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
Two: The Filling:
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
3 cups whole milk
5 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), melted
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
Three: The Topping:
4 egg whites
Dash of salt
7 oz. jar marshmallow creme
And now, this is all you have to do:
For the crust, preheat your oven to 350°F and place your rack in the middle of the oven. Place your graham crackers into your trusty food processor and give them a good pulsing, until you’ve got a nice even texture worthy of a pie crust base. Combine your melted butter, graham crackers and sugar in a medium sized bowl and then once combined place it all in the bottom of a spring form pan. Try to pat it down evenly across the entire base. Bake for 10-15 minutes though Alex says he’d take it out at 10 minutes to cool rather than the 15.
Now lets move onto the filling! Whisk together your sugar, cornstarch, salt and egg yolks in a heavy saucepan until all the ingredients are fully combined. Next, add your milk in a stream whilst whisking constantly. Bring the mixture to a boil over a medium heat (whisking, whisking, whisking) and then bring down the temperature to a simmer. Whisk away until the filling becomes thick (a few minutes should suffice.)
Once thickened, force your mixture through a micro sieve into a mixing bowl. Now the fun part. Whisk in your melted chocolate, soft butter and vanilla. Pure magic! Now let the mixture cool down properly before you spoon it into the pie mould (at least 2 hours.) Once you do add the mixture, let the pie set for 4-6 hours before you prepare for the finale!
The topping goes something like this. Beat your egg whites and salt in your trusty mixer until you get soft peaks occurring. Gradually add your marshmallow creme until your start to see some hard peaks forming. If you dare, stand underneath your meringue and see if any plops out. If it does, it’s not ready! (see photo below) Spread the meringue evenly over the set pie and create peaks. Alex peaked with the back of a spoon, you can also use a spatula to create bigger peaks.
Now as all 13 year old boys love to do…it was time to torch the peaks to give the pie its final look and taste. Carefully and evenly, torch the tips of the peaks until they become a lovely golden/darkish brown. Any more and you’ll burn it!
Remove the spring side from the pan and serve up what can only be described as “One Yuuuuumy Pie!” Thanks Alex, that was not easy and it was absolutely delicious for your first attempt at a real dessert!
Overall Heather (and Dad) Rating: 10/10
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