Danielle's Moo-less Chocolate Pie

I really enjoyed this pie. In fact, I enjoyed it a little too much the first night and my tummy wasn't so happy the rest of the night...

When I tasted the pie filling before refrigerating it, I was skeptical. There was something off-putting about it. But after it set, something magical happened. It turned into a deep rich smooth delicious chocolate pie. Max and I both loved it.

I used Oreos for my crust instead of chocolate wafers. I've used chocolate wafers for Baked recipes before, but I hate spending $5 on a little package of those wafer cookies. Seriously, why do they cost so much?? They are just dry little plain cookies! I only wanted to make a half batch, and at least with Oreos we'd enjoy eating what I didn't use for the pie. I thought the Oreos worked fine.

I also used cream instead of the liqueur. If I were a coffee drinker, I might've used straight coffee instead of the cream. I think coffee would've given the pie an added flavor dimension that would've made the pie even better. Alternatively, I think mint extract would work great with this pie. I'm going to try that next time.

This recipe was quite a success. It was so easy to make, and it tasted great. I would definitely make this again. In fact, I still have half of a package of tofu in the fridge so I might be making this again very soon!

Melanie W.'s Moo-Less Chocolate Pie

Ok, mine wasn't truly Moo-Less. I liked Cami's idea of substituting heavy cream for the coffee liquor so I did that. I also can't have chocolate pie without a little whipped cream on top!

I was real hesitant to make this pie at first because I don't think I've ever made anything with tofu before. I've eaten it before I'm sure, and I don't really mind it, but to put it in a pie? I figured I'd give it a shot since people said they couldn't taste it, plus tofu is healthy. That's what this food blog is for, to try things you wouldn't otherwise, right?

The pie really is easy to make, especially if you use a pre-made crust like I did. The pie tasted very chocolatey (maybe even a tad bit too chocolatey). I couldn't really taste the tofu. It was decent chocolate pie, but not my favorite. I don't know if it was the chocolate flavor (maybe I should have used more expensive chocolate?), the texture, or just knowing there was tofu in it. Just looking at my pie it looks like a chunk of brown tofu. It wasn't quite as creamy as I'd hoped for.

But I tried it, I got my chocolate fix, and now I know the difference between silken and firm tofu. Now I want to make the Baked chocolate pie!

Cami's Moo-less Chocolate Pie

This was ridiculously easy and really tasty. I think it rivals any other chocolate pie I've ever made, including Baked. I also bought a pre-made crust because I had a lot of things going on this week. I don't feel like it detracted from the pie at all.

Since I didn't want to use coffee liqueur I used 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream instead. I think this did a lot of things. It decreased the overall sweetness and I think it made it more smooth overall. I will definitely make this again.

I made homemade whipped cream, which was really easy but makes it seem extra special. I recommend this. You couldn't taste tofu at all.

Moo-Less Chocolate Pie

I do love a good chocolate pie. I really loved this chocolate pie from Baked but thought it was kind of a lot of work. When I was flipping through Good Eats and found Alton's recipe for Chocolate Pie featuring Tofu as the main ingredient, my curiosity sky rocketed.

Here is the link for the online recipe. It comes from an episode called Tofuworld and can be found in the book on page 192.

It's been in the high 90s-100s here in my part of California for almost a week now. Generally we get some relief from the fog that rolls in from the Bay at night, but not during this heatwave. It's been miserable. I don't think I've had a good night's sleep in five nights. So when I was picking my recipe, I knew I'd have to find something that did not require me to turn on the oven. Although this recipe includes a Chocolate Wafer Crust which you bake for a short period, I cheated and bought one of those pre-made Oreo cookie crusts at the store. I'm sure Alton's crust is much better, but it's just too hot here. In retrospect, I should have just used Baked's cookie crust recipe since it doesn't require an oven, but oh well.

I think this pie is WAY too sweet. When I try it again I will only use only 1/2 the package of chocolate chips (6 oz). I love chocolate and I couldn't even finish a small slice of this pie. I think the tofu is a great idea though so I will be playing around with this recipe to make it just right for me. I love finding ways to incorporate tofu into my food since it's so good for you and has relatively no taste.

Melanie W.'s Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie

I thought this pie was good. Really good. But not my favorite. I do like chocolate pies, but this didn't satisfy me quite the same way say a chocolate cream pie can. :)

I followed the directions exactly, except I don't keep whiskey on hand so I added a little vanilla extract instead. I thought about doing a graham cracker crust but ultimately decided I wanted to taste the "true" Baked recipe so I made their pie crust. I thought it was really good! and I'm glad I still have a disc of dough in my freezer for a future pie.

Things I would change: I probably wouldn't cover my crust halfway through baking, or at least be careful to not cover it so much. The foil partially hung over the pie so the edges didn't get nice and browned like the rest. Also, I topped the pie with chocolate chips but, like others, they just sunk straight to the bottom and they made it almost too rich. Next time I'd rather leave them out completely or add them halfway through baking so they would stay on top.

Danielle's Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie

This was delicious! Way better than pizookies. We took it over to share with some friends, and it was a hit for everyone! And the best part, it was super fast and easy to make!

Like Cami, I did mini pies. I had planned to halve the recipe, and doing individual dishes seemed like the only way to pull that off. I ended up making the full batch so we could share it with friends, and I'm glad I did so we could have a couple extra mini pies leftover. The full recipe only filled six four-inch ramekins -- not a huge batch.

Based on Cami's comment about the pie crust being a little odd, I went with a graham cracker crust. I'm glad I did because I loved it! I crushed up crackers and mixed it with cocoa powder, sugar, melted butter, and some vanilla. And it was delicious. The other change I made was that I used pecans instead of walnuts because that's what I had. I thought it was odd that they said the pie was a cross between pecan pie and a cookie, but the recipe called for walnuts...

Also, I put chocolate chips on top of my pie filling before putting them in the oven, but all the chocolate chips just sunk to the bottom anyway. So don't bother putting them on top. Just mix in what you want and leave it at that.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any ice cream to put on top. Ice cream would've been an improvement, but we put whipped cream on top and that was pretty good too. I'll make sure to have ice cream on hand next time.

Cami's Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie

I decided to make these into 4 inch tarts instead of a whole pie. It is easier to freeze and eat later than a whole pie. I think I have this mini obsession with small, individual serving desserts.

This was good, but not as good as I would have liked. I think the crust is confusing. I so heavily associate this crust with fruit pie that it seems weird to basically put a chocolate chip cookie inside. I think a graham cracker crust would be better. The inside of the pie was really good. Like a large, very gooey chocolate chip cookie. The recipe says to add chocolate chips to the top so you have a chocolate top but I kind of like it like this. Plus, I ran out of chocolate chips.

I accidentally made the whole pie crust recipe and am glad I did because it will be good with apple or cherry pie in the future.

Deanna's Chocolate Pie

Wow! Things have been pretty busy for me lately (as I'm sure they are for everyone). I feel so guilty that the one and only time I've posted on Delish was on my selection week! Then I just silently stood by and read about all your pretty Baked creations, trying without success to fit something in.

Well, I finally got to one - I know, I know, it's a week late, but I'm happy I got around to it. This chocolate pie is very good. It's light and creamy. I brought it to a dinner with some friends who are helping me with some wedding details. Everyone loved it!

The only substitution I made was, like Cami, to use vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean in the whipped cream. Those beans are super-expensive! I love baking with them and really should find some way of buying them in bulk from Mexico or something but, for now, I'll save my $6 thanks ;) I also dusted the top of the pie with some milk chocolate shavings. You can't really taste them, but it looks pretty. If you're interested, you can see my blog post about this pie on my blog Occasional Sugar here. There's a couple more photos.

Chocolate Pie

Melanie C. has been really busy as of late and asked me to choose a recipe and post for her. I am of course thrilled to do so. I have been eying the chocolate pie for a while. I am glad I chose it. This recipe again asks for those pesky chocolate wafer cookies for the crust. I decided I would go to the store instead of sending my husband to make sure we got the right thing. Well, would you believe he was right?!?! Our store doesn't stock them. To avoid going all over town looking for them I looked for an alternative. I didn't want to go with the vanilla wafers this time. I think that would taste weird. I saw Oreos were on sale. I've never made an Oreo crust but I've tasted them and they are really good. So, I chose Mint Oreos to make the crust. It was divine. The mint was just enough to tell it is there but not overpowering to the chocolate. I recommend this if you're looking for something a little different. I'm sure it puts the calorie count in the thousands per piece, but it is really good.

I made the chocolate part exactly like it said it should be. It is very rich and tastes a little more dense than the chocolate cream pies I've had in the past. I like it better though. It feels more grown up.

For the whipped cream I couldn't stomach paying $6.00 for a vanilla bean. So, I used vanilla extract. I also used powdered sugar instead of regular sugar. It makes the whipped cream a little thicker. If you wanted to pipe your whipped cream you should use powdered sugar. I know the recipe book says you can store the whipped cream in the fridge for up to 2 hours. I just put mine on the pie and it has held up two days without any sign of change. I imagine it will last until the pie is gone.

Do you have any pet peeves? Um, yes. I have many. Clutter at my house (not anyone else's) and flight delays (of which I've had many) would probably be the biggest two.
Any other hobbies besides being an amazing cook? I love to sew. I also like to scrapbook, ride my bike, run, read and nap.
What is your favorite summer activity? Going to the beach. Someday I want to make that my favorite winter activity as well.
Are you a morning or a night person? I'm a night person. I like to stay up late and finish whatever I'm working on / reading. Then I like to sleep in. That doesn't happen with a kid though. Thankfully I'm a good napper.
Are you a go-go-go sight-seeing kind of vacationer or lie-on-the-beach-all-day kind of vacationer? I like to go-go-go. I generally come home more tired than when I left. I like that.
What is your favorite store? I probably spend the most money at Target but I love Anthropologie.
What is your favorite beverage? Homemade strawberry lemonade.
If you had to go back to school, what would your major be? UGH. I struggle with this one. It would probably be fashion design. Although I have considered interior design or graphic design. That is one of the reasons I haven't gone back to school yet. I want to be 100% sure.

Larisa's Peanut Butter Pie

I've been waiting to make this pie until we had family in town so that I wouldn't end up eating most of it myself! I love peanut butter and chocolate, but even for me this pie was a bit too heavy (not that you'd expect peanut butter and chocolate to be light and refreshing, but this is definitely a doosie). All of our guests enjoyed the pie, but several didn't finish their plates and I still had over half of the pie leftover in the freezer, which 6 missionaries courteously finished off for us. The peanut butter cream itself was smooth and not overly sweet, and both my husband and I think the flavors melded a bit better after a day or two (can flavors meld in the freezer?) Overall this recipe was a success, but for us, only to be enjoyed in small pieces. I perhaps might try this again for a holiday dessert, but its richness definitely calls for a special occasion.

I added 2 tablespoons of cream to the chocolate layer over the crust (thanks for the suggestion Danielle) which worked nicely to soften the layer into more of a ganache. The hot fudge was decadent and delicious, although we had loads of leftover sauce; I probably could have halved the recipe and still had plenty to spare. I will definitely use the hot fudge sauce again to add to other recipes. It's so much better home-made.

A delish evening

We had some friends over for dinner last Sunday and I decided to serve up a delish dinner. I had been meaning to try Larisa's chicken kebobs and the peanut butter pie...and boy, was that a tasty dinner! For the kebobs, I added some brown sugar into the marinade to make it a little bit sweeter and I thought the sweetness of the marinade went really well with the smokey flavor of the bacon (and bacon make everything better...or was that butter? Either way, it was great!). In addition to the red bell peppers and mushrooms, I also skewered on some zucchini since that's my favorite veggie grilled. I realized, though, after they were on the grill, that I had forgotten the pineapple. We love fresh grilled pineapples, so I wanted to do it on these, but just forgot. Must try next time. Anyway, these were fabulous...they will definitely make an encore appearance at our dinner table.


Oh, the peanut butter pie. Loved it! It took me a little while to find the chocolate wafers, but I found them at Treasure Island...$5 for 9 ounces. I didn't want any leftover wafers, so I used all 9 ounces and an extra tablespoon of butter, so that made for a pretty thick crust. Maybe I pressed too hard to make it all fit, but my crust ended up being super hard once it was frozen. Did other people have super hard crusts? I think next time, I will just buy a pre-made chocolate crust to save myself a little time. Or I may try making it with Oreo cookies (as I purchased a box today at Costco). Heeding Danielle's advice, I was going to use the hot fudge on the bottom, but again, I forgot, so I didn't have a chocolate layer, which ended up being fine. Everyone loved it, and it was just tasty, really. In fact, we had some other friends over on Wednesday night for dinner and had it for dessert again that night. I loved that it was all super cold and frozen with the hot fudge on top. But I was kind of happy that we didn't end up eating the entire pie. The picture I took was of the very last piece, which Greg and I shared, although I think I probably ate more of it than he did. I think I'll be making the PB pie again, too. It's just too good not to.

LuAnn's Pie

That's right...this is no longer called PB Pie. It is MY Pie! I love PB and chocolate...and cream cheese and heavy cream are 2 of my favorite ingredients! I loved my THIN slice of this pie (it is sweet and my belly can only handle so much sweet).

Like Danielle and Cami suggested I added 1.5 tbsp. of cream to the chocolate. It was great...2 tbsp. would have been fine. I also increased the crust a bit (I used chocolate Teddy Grahams because that was the only chocolate cookie I could find) because the crust is usually my favorite part of the cake. I thought it was perfect! There is one more piece in the freezer and my mouth is watering.

I took this to a gathering with the Tuckers and Strongs (and one other U of C grad...can't remember his name) who are all out here in D.C. I felt bad that nameless grad was allergic to peanuts. I've also come to learn that Europeans are generally unaccustomed to the flavor of PB. So take note.

This pie will definitely make an appearance at my Thanksgiving dinner this year...if not sooner!

Melanie W.'s Peanut Butter Pie

(sorry for the glare in the picture)

Wow, talk about sinfully delicious!! This reminded of me of the Peanut Butter Mood smoothy from Jamba Juice. I've never had it, but it's supposed to be the most unhealthy smoothy in America. I think this probably even surpases it!! But this was really yummy. I'm also a PB lover, and wish I had thought of topping it with peanut butter cups like Deanna.

I'll start from the bottom up: I loved the cookie crust. I usually buy my crusts, but think it's must better to make a cookie crust. I didn't listen to Danielle's advice and I added the chocolate layer just as instructed. With the frozen pie it made it impossible to cut through the chocolate! I would rather not have any chocolate at all, or do what Deanna did and just use the fudge sauce instead. I used a tad bit less cream cheese than called for because it's all I had, but I don't think it made any difference at all. I loved the creaminess of the PB filling!! Yum. I also used the chocolate sauce, and glad I did. It was divine, though it hardened pretty quickly on the cold pie. I halved the sauce recipe and glad I did because I still have a lot left.

This was a yummy pie, but I don't think I'll be making it any time soon, unless I make it for a large crowd. I could only get through half a piece before feeling sick because it was so rich! And we still have a ton of pie in the freezer. Yummy, but surely not a good one for the waist line!

Deanna's Peanut Butter Pie

Hi, my name is Deanna and I'm a Peanut Butter-oholic. I confess that I eat it straight from the jar by the spoonful. I'll even admit that, when I was in junior high, I would come home from school and stick a wooden spoon in the jar of peanut butter and then stick it in whatever sugary cereal we had (Captain Crunch was a favorite), and just go to town. Now I prefer the more sophisticated, dip the spoon in the peanut butter and then in the chocolate chips. When I was deciding on what recipe to pick for my week, this one was SCREAMING out to me. I just knew this pie was going to be amazing as soon as I had a little taste of the peanut butter filling (prior to adding in the whipped cream). Oh, so dense and scrumptious!

I'd like to thank Danielle for her advice on the bottom chocolate layer. I ended up just making the hot fudge topping and spreading some of that on the crust instead. It was the perfect consistency. I chose to do mine in a spring form pan because I always have difficulty getting these cookie-type crusts out of a pie dish without making a total mess. I threw a bunch of crushed Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on top before freezing and thought this added a little extra texture and flavor. This pie is not hard to make, but look forward to a lot of dirty dishes. I would recommend this to anyone and will definitely bake it again. The result is very pretty and professional looking, like something you would get at a fancy restaurant. Your friends will be impressed.

Cami's Peanut Butter Pie

This was also a huge hit for me! It was relatively quick and very easy. I obviously made a few changes which I loved. Next time I'll stick to the recipe to see how that tastes, but here's what I did.

My husband has been doing the grocery shopping. Bless him. He couldn't find the chocolate wafer cookies so he came home with the vanilla wafers. They worked very well and tasted great. I did add a little cocoa powder to it but not enough to do anything, I don't think. I agree with Danielle that the chocolate between the pie and the crust gets pretty hard. Adding cream is a great idea.

I made the pie part exactly like one should and then I already had some salty caramel sauce that we used for the Sweet & Salty Cake(I love that stuff) in the fridge so I drizzled that over the top. It was divine. Again, next time I'll do a chocolate crust and chocolate sauce but if you're looking for similar but different, try this. It's delicious.

Danielle's Peanut Butter Pie

This pie gets a big two thumbs up from me! YUM!!

Not only is it super tasty, but at an hour and a half, it's the quickest recipe I've tried yet! The recipe was really easy to follow and easily surpassed my expectations.

I only made one change to the recipe as I made it. It called for about 1.5 cups of crushed cookies, but I just smashed up my whole package which turned out to be maybe close to 2.5 cups of crushed cookies. To make up for the extra cookies, I used a whole stick of melted butter.

Also, I would recommend starting out with just a half batch of the hot fudge sauce. I made a half batch figuring I could make more hot fudge later if I needed to (it's super easy to make), but I'm certain the half batch will be plenty for the whole pie.

Oh and one more suggestion. You might want to try adding a little bit of cream to the chocolate that goes between the pie crust and the filling. Once it's chilled, that chocolate layer turns pretty solid and is really hard to cut through with a fork. I ended up shooting crumbs across the table when I broke through the chocolate layer on my first bite. I learned to be more careful after that, but it's still a little precarious trying to cut through the chocolate. So I think a softer chocolate layer is something I'll try next time, maybe something closer to the consistency of the refrigerated hot fudge.

Peanut Butter Pie

For this week, I've chosen the Peanut Butter Pie from the Baked book (p100). I am so excited to be joining this baking group because I LOVE this book and can't wait to try as many recipes in it as possible. It makes me happy to know that there are other Baked fanatics out there :) I have a blog of my own, Occasional Sugar and am very new to the baking/blogging world and very eager to learn all that I can from other experienced bakers/bloggers.

I have an event this Saturday that I will be bringing this pie to for dessert so my post will come later in the week.

When did you start baking / cooking?
I started baking with my mom when I was very young. We'd bake chocolate chip cookies. She would measure out the ingredients and let me throw them in the bowl. Of course, my favorite part was sampling the dough. I remember once in 5th grade, my mom snuck some cookie dough into my packed lunch. My teacher was so appalled that my mom would do such a thing, like she had packed me rat poison or something. My mom and I still laugh about how ridiculous she was.

What is your favorite kitchen tool?
Oh man, I LOVE to buy new gadgets. I call this condition GAS (Gear Acquiring Syndrome). Of course I love my KitchenAid Standing Mixer, but I also get very excited when I think about my Progressive Cherry-It Pitter. Pit four cherries at once with no mess!

Do you have a favorite spice? If so, what is it?
Cardamom. I would love to try more recipes that use it.

What is your favorite book?
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
I would be so happy if I could take some time off and backpack through South America. I'm just dying to see Machu Picchu and Patagonia.

If you had to change your first name right now, what would you change it to?
No change, I like my name :)

Where do you currently live?
Walnut Creek, California

Where are you from?
The same place I currently live.

If you could eat one thing for every meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Dim Sum!!