world's finest chocolate pie

A few months ago, I mentioned that some of the best recipes I've found come from packaging labels.  I am slightly embarrassed to share with you where I got this one.  And before I tell you, I want you to know that the main ingredient was not expired or even close, for that matter.  It's just that out of a recent desire and heart-felt attempt to try to use up our abundance of stocked edible items that currently fill our freezer, drawers, pantry, you name it, I was bound and determined to use up... well... are you ready for this?...

themilkchocolatebunnygiventotheboyslastEaster.

There.  I said it.  And, yes.  You read right.  Last year's bunny.

I have a terrible time throwing away anything, let alone perfectly-good-solid-chocolate anythings. Hence the reason we've had a bunny in our cabinet for the last ten months.  So when we were preparing to visit friends, and I agreed to bring the dessert, I started rummaging through our "stock" to see what I could use.  

Now that the admission is over, we'll move on.

There is nothing fancy-schmantzy about this recipe whatsoever, but it is really wonderful.  And for those of you who think a homemade graham cracker crust won't be a huge difference from store-bought, I urge you to think again.

I am a great fan of ice cream and frozen creamy desserts, so even though the recipe didn't call for it, I found this to be even better following a short stint in the freezer.  The result is creamy and light with an authentic chocolate flavor.

I do need to confess how humbly proud I am that I have worked through all the overstock I mentioned earlier. I committed at the start of the new year to not "store up" until I had exhausted all my options from what we already own.  I am getting closer to my goal.  Only two more bags of egg noodles, a handful of canned goods... oh... and would you look at that?  Another chocolate bunny.  Hm.

Expiration 4/13?

No problem. 

World's Finest Chocolate Pie - makes 1 pie
Ingredients:
For the crust:

• 16 whole graham crackers, finely ground
• 5 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt

For the filling:

• 6 oz milk chocolate, broken in pieces (keep small piece for garnish shavings)
• 180 mini marshmallows
• 1/4 cup milk
• 16 oz. unsweetened whipping cream

~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees

~ Pulse crackers until finely ground.  Add in remaining crust ingredients and pulse a few 

    times to incorporate.  Dump into 9-inch pie pan.

~ Press mixture evenly on the bottom and up sides of pan.

~ Bake until golden brown and fragrant, about 12-14 minutes.

~ Set aside to cool.

~ For the filling, place chocolate pieces, marshmallows and milk in double boiler or very 
    heavy pan.

~ Melt over low heat, stirring constantly.  

~ Let cool until just warm.

~ While cooling, whip cream with blender until stiff.

~ Working quickly, scrape chocolate mixture out of the pan and fold into whipped cream. 
    Because of the marshmallows, the chocolate can stiffen and be hard to scrape out of the 
    pan.    

~ Pour into cooked crust and chill in fridge.  As mentioned, I prefer to place in the freezer 

   until ready to serve.  Garnish with chocolate shavings, if desired.

Pie crust recipe from Martha Stewart.
Pie filling slightly adapted from World's Finest Chocolate.