Chocolate Brown Butter Coffee Pie

Sometimes you have a sweet tooth that no Oreo or chocolate chip granola bar forgotten at the back of the cabinet will satisfy. You want something home baked, something decadent, something...fancy. Well folks, this is it. The other day I was craving chocolate pie, and then while working at the shop, a delivery of new brown butter sticks and local coffee beans arrived, and little bulb went off. I got home that evening and with my new Farmhouse Pottery pie dish in tow, a masterpiece was born. I took my go-to chocolate pie recipe and made a couple tweaks to achieve the level of decadence I was after, and it did not disappoint. So, if you're feeling so inclined, and you really want a gorgeous dessert to fuss over (I mean, what's better than a small glass of red wine to sip on while you enjoy a new podcast and a culinary adventure for the evening?) I invite you to try this one. 

CHOCOLATE BROWN BUTTER COFFEE PIE

EQUIPMENT NEEDED: Saucepan, large glass measuring cup or bowl, pie dish, pie weights or dried beans, parchment, and a fine mesh strainer. 

INGREDIENTS:

For the pie crust:

2.5 cups AP flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup salted butter (cold)

1/2 cup crisco (cold)

1/4 cup ice water

For the pie filling:

3 cups whole milk

1/4 cup coarse ground coffee

1/2 cup sugar

6 egg yolks

3 tbsp cornstarch

6 tbsp salted butter

4 tbsp brown butter (Buji brown butter sticks are sold in the shop if you're local!)

2 tsp vanilla

8 ounces chopped semi-sweet bakers chocolate bar

INSTRUCTIONS:

For the pie dough, mix dry ingredients in a bowl, then add butter and crisco in dice-sized chunks. Cut in with a pastry cutter or two forks until the mixture is coarse crumbles with some bigger pieces of fat throughout. Drizzle in 1/4 cup ice water and turn mixture over on itself until it starts to come together. Add 1 or 2 more tbsp of ice water if needed, but always do the press test in your bowl first. Press the mixture down to see if sticks to itself and holds. Too much water will make the pie dough gummy and you will lose the flakiness when it bakes. Turn the dough onto a floured counter and press, then fold in half and press. Repeat 3 or 4 times until dry bits are incorporated and the mixture has formed a firm but not crumbly disk. If the dough is falling apart, with damp fingers, press and fold until it comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour. 

Preheat oven to 375. Take dough disk and on a floured surface, roll out in to a circle that is 3-4 inches wider in diameter than your pie dish. Gently place pie crust in pie dish and trim the edge so that an even inch of crust is overhanging the pie dish. Tuck the hanging portion under itself so that the edges of the pie crust are now even with the edge of the pie dish and the crust edges are smooth and rounded. Crimp or pleat how you prefer. Take a square of parchment slightly larger than your pie dish and crumple it up so it fits into your pie crust/dish without creasing, and form into place. Fill with pie weights so that the entire cavity is filled and the crust can't puff up while baking. You can also use dry beans, rice, or split peas in place of weights. (We sell Pie Beans in the shop!)

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, remove from oven, carefully remove parchment and weights, use a fork to pokes holes in bottom of crust, return to oven for 10-15 minutes until crust is golden and set. Remove from oven and let cool on the counter until warm, then place in fridge to completely cool while you make the filling. 

Prepare the Filling:

In a saucepan, add milk and coffee. Bring up to a gentle simmer for about 2-3 minutes, and then remove from heat. Pour milk mixture through strainer to remove all coffee grounds, and return coffee infused milk back to saucepan. Add in the sugar and slowly bring to a simmer. 

While waiting for milk mixture to simmer, place the yolks and cornstarch in a glass measuring cup or bowl and stir until it's a smooth golden paste. Once milk mixture is simmering slowly drizzle 1-2 tbsp into egg yolk mixture while whisking the yolks to temper them. Add in 2 more tbsp of hot milk and continue to whisk until smooth.

Return milk saucepan to low simmer and slowly drizzle the tempered egg mixture into the milk while whisking constantly. Mixture will thicken quickly. Once larger bubbles are breaking the surface immediately remove from heat. (This will only take 20-30 seconds or so after stirring in yolk mixture) 

At this point add in you butters, chopped chocolate and vanilla and stir until the whole mixture is smooth and lump free.

Take cooled pie crust and pour chocolate filling into crust. Tap the whole thing on the counter to remove any bubbles, stretch plastic wrap over the top (not touching the hot mixture) and chill in refrigerator until set. 4-6 hours.

Once chilled and set, top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings if desired! (I added crumbled walnuts too :) Enjoy!

P.S. I used this deep pie dish from Farmhouse Pottery! Yes, it's pricey, we know, but it's such a gorgeous, substantial piece of handmade pottery that will delight for years to come, and that wide wavy edge is so dreamy :)