It's the season /-/ Seriously French Silk Pie

Today, I would not be complaining if it ended 10 hours ago. As someone who is accident prone, I had one of those days when it is amplified infinity fold.  Within the misery it gets worse as I had an accident with my light room program, computer and internet.
 


The day that I was about to post this (last Wednesday to be exact), all had a heart attack and froze in mid space. This is why I hate Window *bloody* 8 with it multi-colour icon toggle feature. Enough with the first world problems in my life as this time of year make me incredibility grateful for what I have. We do not celebrate Thanks giving in Australia, so no pumpkin pie, no corn bread side dishes and no turkey left overs. It is a sad time for the food bloggers in Australia (we are counting the days to Christmas). None the less the photographs of large gather of family and friends over food make me so warm inside.



This year my family did not (once again) have the best year; in fact it has to be up there as one of the worst one’s ever. In almost parallel irony it is also one of the best years for me achievement wise concerning where I want to go in life. I have no doubt that I will end up working in some job relating to food but it is so much more reachable now that I have a taste, a sip from the punch bowl which is the baking/pastry industry. So in that I am grateful.




I am grateful that I have still not fallen completely apart since March. While my dad is happily gardening among the clouds and listening to his Wide range Chinese radio, I still miss him every day he is not at home at 3:30 pm. My family is just not he same with that grumpy but wise man.


 On a more positive note of finally understanding why people have such an infatuation with pie, namely chocolate pies. Right now I have more than enough egg yolks to make at least 1 month supply of ice cream for me (I go through at least 4L ) however in weird turn of events I have suddenly had great cravings for chocolate. Chocolate anything right now is the go to dessert for me, so in order to keep in with the season I made a pie which is “very French”. I say “very French” as a nicer way of putting this dessert has a lot of cream, sugar and yolks; it is time of joyful eating now isn’t it? 



I have never tasted a real French silk pie before but looking up the recipes I fail to see why it is called French at all. This pie is REAL Chocolate Pie made from a base of Pate de bombe (DO NOT RUN, it is simple as making butter cream).  Boiling Sugar poured into yolks in a stand mixer may sound hard but seriously I find all you need is a good thermometer and a steady hand; the mixer does a lot of the work for you. 

Folded whipped cream and melt chocolate are the next additions to the golden foam, finished off which a large amount of sea salt flakes and a splash of bourbon for good measure.  This most silky pie filling that is the bomb! For your taste buds and if you eat a whole pie to yourself, forget your waist line.

 

Seriously look at how silky it is! This is because there is no gelatine or thickening agents in it besides the egg yolks. Just the pure taste of chocolate, cream and bourbon. An yolk enriched pie crust become the tender flaky base for this melt away chocolate mouse pie. Well you might as well go all out and put some cream on their too. 

 

Hell! Go for a heavy sprinkle of chocolate too! You will definitely win brownie points at your next party when you pull out this beauty from the fridge. The best part is that you can make it all in advance and it would keep for a good 3 days, air tight box, before the crust starts to go soft. So at this time of year when you need an instantly delicious but non-commercial dessert, give this pie a try.

 

Really French Silk Pie

NOTE: I had a lot extra to make another pie if you wish. However the mouse is great if spooned into little cups and eaten like that. The pastry can be saved for another day in the freezer but makes great biscuits. If you are short on time go get a pie crust from the store and make the mousse, nobody will no the difference.

Adapted from Sugarbaby’s pate de bombe in her book.
Crust recipe from Gourmet Traveller

CRUST

350g flour
100g caster sugar
160g unsalted butter, cold in 1 cm dice
4g salt
3 egg yolks

Filling and garish; chocolate flake and whipped cream
Place flour and sugar in a large bowl and combine together with a fork.Slowly rub in butter with finger tips to form a mixture resembling golden breadcrumbs. Add egg yolks and continue mixing until dough just comes together and is smooth. Shape it into a ball, cover in plastic wrap and leave it to rest in the fridge for 1 hour at least.
Place chilled dough on a floured surface. Using a rolling pin roll your dough out to 3mm thickness make sure it will cover the tart tin or pie plate well. Once rolled out, gently roll your pastry on to the pin and un roll it on the top of the tart tin. I used a 20cm by 5cm tart tin.
Allow the natural gravity make the pastry fall around the tart tin but loosen any stubborn corners of the pastry. Make sure not to stretch the pastry to cover the tin. Neaten up the edges and chill again for 30 minutes.
Pre heat oven to 180C and place a baking sheet on the baking rack. Remove the tart from the freezer. Scrunch up a piece of baking paper and place in the middle of the tart. Pour in the baking rice or beans and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove baking beans and continue to bake for 15mintues till golden brown. Allow to cool completely. Begin the mousse now

 
FILLING

10 egg yolks
200g caster sugar
55g water
400g dark chocolate, chopped
480ml pure cream
30ml bourbon

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk, place egg yolks in bowl. On medium high whip egg yolks until they turn a pale gold and have slightly doubled in size.
In a small heavy base sauce pan, bring to the boil sugar and water. With a thermometer take the sugar mix to 120C. Once at this temp remove from heat and turn the stand mixer on to high power.
While beating the egg yolks in the stand mixer on high, pour in the hot sugar in a thin stream down the side of the bowl avoiding the beater. Continue on this speed until the mixture is beaten to room temperature.
At the same time this is happening, place bowl on top of a small pot of simmering water. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water. One simmer turn off the heat and place chocolate in the bowl. Stir gently to melt.
Whip cream to soft peaks and store in in the fridge.
Remove the bowl from the mixer. Fold in chocolate and bourbon until combined. Then gently fold in cream until all ribbons of white have disappeared. Pour into pie crust and tap the crust to create an even surface. Place in fridge until set (1 hour). Garnish with cream and chocolate when ready to serve.