Chocolate Raspberry Love

If you are looking to impress your family, friends or significant other with a knock-out dessert, this is one that is sure to be a winner. You can make your own crust out of crushed chocolate wafer cookies, melted butter and the like and then baking it in the oven, but sometimes simplicity is best. In todays world you can get away with mixing in some some store-bought items with all your from scratch hard work and still come out with an excellent dish. They don't call it the SUPER market for nothin'.

Instead of making my own crust and whipped topping, I bought a premade chocolate crust and a couple of containers of coolwhip and combined that with some beautiful raspberries that were in season at the time and then the filling from scratch.

I whipped two of these up one Sunday morning and then took them to a family get together later that day and by that evening, there was one tiny and roughed up piece left in one of the pie tins.

The pie came out looking beautiful as a whole in the dish, but wasn't quite as pretty once it was cut and served. This may also be due to the fact that I did not chill overnight as the recipe suggests, but only for a few hours before serving. Chilling overnight will most likely allow your filling to have a firmer set. Just make sure you have it covered, so it doesn't pick up all those additional refridgerator flavors. However the chocolate decadence of this dessert overshadowed any lack of picture perfect slices.

Black-Bottomed Raspberry Cream Pie

Crust
Store-bought chocolate pie crust

Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 1/2 cups whole milk, divided
2 large egg yolks
1 large egg
4 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter

Topping
3 1/2-pint containers raspberries
1 Container of Cool Whip
or
1 cup chilled whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


For filling:
Combine sugar, cocoa, and cornstarch in heavy medium saucepan; whisk to blend well. Gradually add 1/4 cup milk, whisking until cornstarch dissolves. Whisk in remaining 2 1/4 cups milk, then egg yolks and egg. Stir over medium-high heat until pudding thickens and boils, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and butter; whisk until melted and smooth. Spread pudding in prepared crust. Press plastic wrap onto pudding to cover and chill pie overnight.

For topping:
Peel plastic wrap off pie. Cover chocolate layer with raspberries, pointed side up, pressing lightly into chocolate to adhere (some berries will be left over). Spread cool whip over berries on pie, or you can make your own whipped topping by beating cream, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl until peaks form; spread over berries on pie. Arrange remaining berries atop cream. Chill pie at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.