First off, this is a terrible picture. It is not doing justice to the absolute decadence and deliciousness within. I’m blogging it anyway because it was SO GOOD, and I brought it to my last in person gathering before Omicron descended on our lives and the rest of all my Friendsmas plans were cancelled (sad face).

Weedy & Heini were hosting us at their new home for a pasta dinner last weekend (Weedy got Heini a pasta maker for her birthday!) and as I had just spent the past couple weeks drooling over American Thanksgiving content, I knew I wanted to make a pie and try a braided crust.

I chose this recipe from Half Baked Harvest because it’s essentially a gooey flourless brownie baked into a pastry crust. It was just as rich, fudge-y and gooey as it sounds. Weedy warmed it up in the oven before we ate it, and had some vanilla ice cream in the freezer to scoop on top. Pure bliss. Whipped cream would also be fantastic dolloped over top.

My only notes for this are really aesthetic ones. The recipes says to bake in a deep dish pie plate – please do not. I used mine, and found that the filling only came about halfway or 2/3 up the sides so it left an ugly gap between the braid and the filling. But my braid did turn out really well! My tips for that are to roll out the dough into a long rectangle, and use a ruler and pizza cutter to get nice, straight strips of dough. I also chilled the dough if it started to get too soft. Lastly, this pie is kind of homely looking, so if I was making it again, I would dust it with icing sugar before bringing it to the table.

Molten Chocolate Crackle Pie

Source: filling from Half Baked Harvest, crust from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

Crust (double these ingredients if you want extra pie dough to make a braid and letters on top)

  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cold, cubed
  • 1/2 cup ice water

Filling

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Directions

  1. For the crust, add the flour, sugar and salt to a big bowl, and stir together. Add the butter, and use a pastry cutter to cut it in, until the butter is the size of peas and the mixture is crumbly. Start by adding 1/4 cup of cold water, and stir together with a spatula until the dough starts to come together. Add more ice water a tbsp at a time, until all the floury bits are incorporated. Knead the dough very briefly with your hands until it all comes together, then shape into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Stick it in the fridge to chill for about an hour.
  2. When pie dough is finished chilling, roll it out on a well-floured counter, then gently add to your pie plate, trim the edges and crimp if you like (or attach your braid). Prick the bottom of the pie with a fork, and freeze the pie for 10-15 minutes.
  3. Preheat the oven to 375°. Remove the pie from the freezer, line it with parchment paper or foil, fill it with pie weights (I use dried beans), and bake for 20 minutes. Gently remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10-15 minutes until golden. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°.
  4. For the filling, whisk the eggs and sugar together until well combined and lightened in colour.
  5. Whisk in the cocoa powder and salt, and then the butter and vanilla until smooth and combined.
  6. Stir in the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate.
  7. Pour filling into the crust. Brush the edges/braid of the crust with egg wash (1 egg + splash of water whisked together).
  8. Bake for 60-70 minutes until the filling has puffed up, but it still slightly wobbly in the centre. If your crust/braid gets too brown while the pie is baking, gently cover it with pieces of foil.