Today I'm serving up this nice, light, chocolate pudding pie. I've made this simple chocolate pudding pie a handful of times and it's a hit with my son and husband and I also like it since it's not too heavy and you don't feel weighed down or guilty after eating it.
This is a recipe from Ellie Krieger via a show that used to air on the Food Network. Reruns of the show, Healthy Appetite, airs on the Cooking Channel now. I really like her healthy recipes and I always thought she was the picture of health so she must know what she's talking about (being a nutritionist). Seriously, the woman's skin just glows. Then I read somewhere recently that she used to be a model...so maybe it's a combination of good genes and a healthy lifestyle that's working here but I really like her recipes and tips.
This pie is made with a simple and lighter cornstarch-cocoa powder pudding (no egg yolks) using 1% milk, along with a graham cracker crust that uses a minimal amount of butter and some water. You add a bit of plain gelatin to set the chocolate pudding and the pie comes together and slices easily and makes a nice snack that satisfies your chocolate craving.
I made this a few days ago and going forward, I might have to think of it as "earthquake pie" because I'd just finished taking a snapshot of it when my house shook. At first, I thought I better eat something because I'm getting light-headed! But when my little guy, who was in the kitchen having a snack, asked me why it's shaking, I knew it wasn't just me. I asked my son to come over and we held hands but frankly, I had no idea what to do other than to stay put and wait it out. Luckily, the shaking stopped within a minute but it was unnerving to see the little fire extinguisher we have hanging on a nearby wall waver back and forth. We came to find out that we were feeling the effects of a 5.8 earthquake that had taken place in Virginia. Well...suffice it to say that we live in an unpredictable world. In fact, we're currently preparing for a hurricane on the East Coast, which is practically unheard of. There seems to be so much going on lately, a lot of stress and distress. I hope we can all think positive thoughts and do good deeds to bring forth more peace and calmness.
I considered this our alternative to the traditional pumpkin pie I also made for the first time this year. As I suspected, the chocolate dessert edged out the pumpkin in popularity at the dinner table (particularly with the kids), although my husband was a big fan of the pumpkin. There's something about pie that belongs with Thanksgiving. Any other day, I'd likely go with a lighter alternative and just make chocolate pudding (i.e., without the pie crust). This is a cornstarch and milk based pudding, rather than the richer egg based variety. It's slightly richer than Ellie Krieger's lighter chocolate pudding since we use whole rather than 1% milk but it's still relatively light, not overly sweet, and just generally yummy.
