The chocolate pie to end all (of my) chocolate pies

If you're looking for a dessert to spike your blood sugar, do I have the pie for you!

I have made so many chocolate pie variations over the past couple of years that I can not even recall them all. Let's see... there are eight (at least) on the list where chocolate could be considered the main ingredient/flavor component. Number nine, if not the piece de resistance, was my latest, greatest, and final attempt. Far from original, I realize, but I am calling it Death by Chocolate pie.

This venture was at least partially inspired by a co-worker's request. Since I have some experience now with chocolate pie of all sorts, I went out on my own and made up the "recipe" on the fly. As I have mentioned before here, I am not a great lover of chocolate. So, for once, my intention was not to make the pie that I was most interested in eating, but to make a pie for the chocolate lovers. The result was no light snack, but an incredibly sweet, gooey amalgamation of cacao flavors fit only for the truly committed choco-phile.

Some Nitty-Gritty Details

My intention with this pie was to infuse every aspect, from top to bottom, with chocolate of one variety or another. Therefore:

The Crust

I had hoped to make a graham cracker crust using chocolate graham crackers. Unfortunately, our local grocery store did not have any in stock. They did, however, have these. A quick, even replacement and off I went. Other than that substitution, the only addition to a standard graham cracker crust was to add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the mix before baking. The end result was thick, quite hard, and frankly not the greatest, but in the final analysis, it served its purpose as a receptacle for layer upon layer of chocolate.

The main flavors/textures in each of the layers, from the crust up, were as follows:

Layer 1

• Unsweetened Chocolate, Walnuts

Layer 2

• Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache

Layer 3

• Semisweet Chocolate Ganache

Layer 4

• Milk Chocolate Ganache

Layer 5

• White & Milk Chocolate Ganache - this layer ended up being more of a gooey, sticky layer than a ganache. Perhaps because of the makeup of white chocolate (yes, I know, it is not even really chocolate)?

Layer 6

• White Chocolate Cream

It took forever. I'm not the fastest of bakers (or anything else for that matter) and am easily distracted. But, it was totally worth it. It was the most fun I have had making a pie in quite some time. The work crowd seemed to like it, and the family crowd did not complain either. It turned out to look like this:

That, by the way, is a colossal piece. Anyone but the most diligent sweet-tooth would be hard pressed to finish a slice that large. Like I said, it was anything but light.

Christmas pies next... It is looking like an old favorite and perhaps something a little bit new.