This Weekend's Little Helper

Preparing ourselves for Tuesday night.

Saturday News Digest, V1/E30

All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong. ~Henry David Thoreau

There’s bipartisan agreement that Tuesday is a make or break moment in our country’s history. If nothing else unites us, we share a high, HIGH, state of dread and angst for the future.

It is, in short, a moment that screams for chocolate mousse pie.

You may say that it’s ludicrous to think a pie is not up to the enormous challenges before us. This kind of thinking is actually a symptom of how screwed up things have become, that a majority doesn’t remember the value of pie and chocolate and how putting pie and chocolate together will always provide our country’s citizens a moment of clarity.

A group of happy pie eaters in not necessarily better times. Photo credit: National Photo Company Collection.

And so, America Eats!, as is its patriotic duty, offers the following recipe for chocolate mousse pie. On the whole, this is a simple recipe. The mousse part may seem daunting—so many bowls! But it’ll keep your mind busy. Also there’s alcohol involved in the ingredients so you can pinch a little glass of that while you’re in the kitchen.

And, please remember that, no matter how things shake out, be kind to yourself and others.  Perhaps even make another pie and share it with someone who needs a hug, too. 

Voting with Pie
High Anxiety Chocolate Mousse Pie

Pre-baked butter and lard pie crust

3 cups flour
8 tablespoons chilled butter
1/3 cup cold lard
4 to 7 tablespoons chilled water

Pour the flour into the bowl of a food processor and sprinkle the cold butter and lard around. Begin to pulse until the butter and lard are broken into tiny pieces and the flour looks course. Quickly begin to add cold water using the pulse button to mix. Add only enough to form a dough. Be very careful not to over mix. If the dough is not fully coming together, add a few more drops of water.

Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Quickly wrap the plastic around the dough, forming it into a disk. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Prebake the crust:

Preheat oven 425 degrees.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and unwrap it on a floured surface.

Roll the dough to an even thickness then carefully lift it and place it in the pie plate. Gently press down along the sides to make sure there are no air pockets. Prick the bottom of the dough with fork tines then lay a large piece of aluminum foil over the bottom and sides and fill with pie weights, dry beans, or rice.

Bake in the center of the oven for 10 minutes. Then lower the oven heat to 350 degrees. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the crust is nice and brown. If the edges look like they’re getting too brown, cover them with a strip of aluminum foil.

Take the crust out of the oven, remove the foil and the weights, and cool completely while you make the mousse.

Chocolate Mousse

1 cup semisweet chocolate bits, or 6 squares semisweet baking chocolate
4 tablespoons strong coffee
4 egg yolks, room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar 
¼ cup rum or a liqueur such as Grand Marina
1 ½ sticks (6 ounces) softened butter
4 egg whites, room temperature
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons instant superfine granulated sugar

Bring a large saucepan filled with water to boil. Place the chocolate and coffee in a smaller saucepan and place it over--not in--the saucepan of boiling water. Stir until the chocolate melts. Remove the chocolate from the boiling water to the counter. Keep the water simmering while you tend to the egg yolks.

Fill a large bowl with water and ice cubes and reserve to the side. 

Place the egg yolks in a mixing bowl and begin to beat on low. Gradually add the sugar.  Continue beating until egg yolks are pale and thick enough that it coats the back of a wooden spoon. Add the liqueur or rum and set the bowl in the simmering water. Beat at a moderate speed for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the mixture is warm and a bit foaming. Remove the bowl from the hot water and beat the mixture for several more minutes until it cools. Set the bowl immediately in the  bowl of ice water and continue beating--a wire whisk is handy here. You want to get the yolk mixture to the stage where it is as thick as a good mayonnaise.

Gradually beat the softened butter into the chocolate then add it to the yolk and sugar mixture. Beat until everything is incorporated together. 

Beat the egg whites on medium speed in another bowl until they begin to foam, then beat in the salt. Increase the speed and beat until egg whites form soft peaks. Sprinkle the sugar across the surface and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir a fourth of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture then add the rest of the egg whites on top and delicately fold them in.

Assemble the pie

Pour the mousse into the baked crust, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least six hours. Overnight is better. 

Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

A little glass of liqueur or rum would be a fine accompaniment, especially on Tuesday night.