FRENCH SILK SLAB PIE

Thanksgiving may be the king of all pie holidays, but there’s something about spring and summer that makes me crave pie even more than I do during the holidays. Granted, pumpkin and pecan pie are the furthest things from my mind, but coconut cream, strawberry and French silk?? Give me a fork, and watch every single crumb disappear.

I’ve been wanting to jump on the slab pie bandwagon for quite some time now, mostly because it photographs way easier than pie, but also because it seemed less daunting than actually making a pie. Which seems silly to me now, because regardless of the vessel in which the pie is made, it’s still pie. However, now that I have made said slab pie, I will say, that because it’s made in a sheet pan, the depth isn’t as high, which means there’s less room for making sky-high fillings, which means, I can eat two pieces of pie instead of one, and that in of itself is a win.

Unlike this peanut butter French silk pie or this pumpkin coconut cream pie, there is nothing fancy or unpredictable about this particular recipe, it’s just a damn good French silk pie, in slab form. It’s not as dense as some French silk pies out there because of the whipped cream folded in to the chocolate, butter and egg mixture, but it’s still every bit as rich.

INGREDIENTS

Crust

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 7 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 tablespoon ice cold vodka
• 6-7 tablespoons ice cold water

Filling

• 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, plus more for garnish
• 4 eggs
• 1 + ¼ cups sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 8 oz. whipped topping, divided
• Mini chocolate chips for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a half sheet pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a bowl combine flour, salt and sugar.
3. Add in vegetable shortening and butter. Use a pastry cutter to blend the fat in to the flour mixture Once there are several small chunks left, but the majority is blended in, stop.
4. ........................................

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