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Make your family's favorite dessert with this easy to follow recipe for old-fashioned chocolate pie. Treat your taste buds to the rich and creamy flavor of this classic treat.
Our family seems to have a sweet tooth, especially when it comes to chocolate of all kinds. In fact, I’d say our family cookbook with lots of my grandmother’s recipes has more desserts than any other category.
Family holidays were like that, too. We usually had a 2:1 ratio of desserts to dinner items.
For real.
I have a bunch of my Grandma’s old cookbooks and there are lots of old fashioned pies in them. Fruit pies, icebox pies, cream pies...you name it. Old fashioned ginger snap cookies, anyone?
But there’s something about cream pies that strike a chord of nostalgic pie making love for me.
Why you'll love this recipe
Second to coffee, chocolate is basically my love language. From Portillo’s chocolate cake to Milky Way Cake and peanut butter brownies, I have a crush.
This no bake chocolate cream pie takes all of the flavors in an instant chocolate pudding, except it’s homemade and this pudding pie tastes a hundred times better. Make it and I think you'll agree!
We’re using a prepared crust to offset the super rich chocolate filling, then topping the pie filling with whipped cream or cool whip. Or go halvsies. Your choice.
Just make this homemade chocolate pie recipe.
Ingredients
It’s amazing how wholesome, simple ingredients can be transformed.
- pantry basics including sugar, salt, cocoa powder and cornstarch.
- milk
- butter
- egg yolks - you'll discard the egg whites or you may use them in another recipe. Meringue, anyone??
- baked pie crust - You can pick up a pie crust at the freezer section of the grocery store. Follow the package instructions for baking it. And relax, there’s no shame in using prepared pie crusts, they also make a mean apple slab pie and mini pumpkin pies.
- fresh whipped cream (optional but highly recommended), or cool whip whipped topping.
How to make Old Fashioned Chocolate Pie
The full printable recipe is below, but I’ll walk you though some of the steps beforehand.
Step 1: Combine the dry ingredients in a medium sized saucepan.
Add the milk and cook, whisking constantly for about 15 minutes.
Step 2: Mix together cornstarch, cocoa, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Add milk and cook on medium heat constantly whisking until thickened, about 15 minutes.
Beat egg yolks in a small bowl and set aside.
Step 3: Ladle out some of the chocolate mixture and pour it into the beaten egg yolks, stirring constantly so the eggs don't scramble.
Note: This is called temperating and allows the eggs to come to proper temperature.
Then add the egg yolk mixture back into saucepan mixture. Cook again until thickened for another 5 minutes.
Step 4: Take the pan off the heat and add butter. Stir to combine.
Step 5: Pour the mixture into the pie pan with the baked pie shell and smooth out the top of the pie.
Step 6: Refrigerate overnight. Top with whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder, enjoy!
Variations
Top with chocolate shavings or crumbled oreo cookie crumbs.
Make with a graham cracker crust or an oreo crust from the store. Or go crazy and make your own homemade pie crust.
Use leftover cocoa powder to make Instant Pot hot cocoa.
How to store leftovers
Chances are, you don’t have leftovers, but just in case…
Keep this pie refrigerated. You can loosely cover the top with plastic wrap. My mom always inserted a few toothpicks to keep the plastic from touching the whipped topping.
Or, you could add the topping as you serve it and then it wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Other no bake dessert recipes
Chocolate Peanut Butter Scotcharoo Bars
More pie recipes
If you make this old-fashioned chocolate pie recipe, leave a recipe review or comment below!
Old Fashioned Chocolate Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 6 Tablespoons cocoa powder
- 4 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 egg yolks beaten (at room temperature)
- 1 pre baked pie crust
- Whipped cream for topping and cocoa powder for dusting optional but highly recommended!
Instructions
- In a saucepan mix together cornstarch, cocoa, sugar, and salt. Add milk and cook on medium heat constantly whisking until thickened, about 15 minutes. In a small bowl beat egg yolks. Set aside.
- Ladle out some of the chocolate mixture into beaten egg yolks, stirring constantly being sure not to scramble the eggs. This allows the eggs to come to proper temperature (the fancy term is called tempering). Then, add egg yolk mixture back into saucepan. Cook again until thickened, another 5 minutes.
- Take off the heat and add butter.
- Pour into the baked pie shell and refrigerate overnight.
Top with whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder before serving.
Video
Notes
How to store leftovers
Chances are, you don’t have leftovers, but just in case… Keep this pie refrigerated. You can loosely cover the top with plastic wrap. My mom always inserted a few toothpicks to keep the plastic from touching the whipped topping. Or, you could add the topping as you serve it and then it wouldn’t be a problem at all.Nutrition
This Farm Girl Cooks is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
