If you love all things chocolate, this French Silk Pie is a top notch chocolate dessert to have in your repertoire. Lusciously smooth chocolate mousse is piled into a buttery pecan pastry crust, topped with a generous crown of sweetened whipped cream, and sprinkled with chocolate shavings. This is one of those recipes that takes humble ingredients and transforms them into something magical!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Crust
- Butter – Always use real butter if you can!
- Pecans – These will be ground, so feel free to buy them in whatever form is the cheapest!
- All-purpose flour
- Brown sugar
- Salt
Mousse
- Butter – Salted. Always use real butter if you can.
- Granulated sugar
- Unsweetened baking chocolate – Melted and cooled.
- Vanilla extract
- Pasteurized eggs – This recipe uses pasteurized eggs to ensure safety since the filling isn’t baked. Note that traditional store-bought eggs are not pasteurized; the label needs to specify that they’ve been pasteurized. If you can’t find pasteurized eggs, you can pasteurize raw eggs at home using a sous vide (140°F for 3.5 minutes) or sit them in warm water for about 3.5 minutes at 140°F to eliminate bacteria while maintaining smooth texture. Pop them in an ice bath afterwards for about 10 minutes to cool them back down before continuing with the recipe.
Topping
- Whipping cream
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Chocolate shavings – Simply use a good quality chocolate bar and a vegetable peeler to make shavings.
How to Make French Silk Pie
Step 1: Make the Crust
- For the pecan-pastry crust, you’ll need some cold butter grated with a large cheese grater, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, salt, and pecans that have been finely chopped or ground (not into pecan butter, just into crumbs) in a blender or food processor. Just add all of the crust ingredients to a mixing bowl and combine gently with clean fingers until course crumbs form.
- Press the mixture into a greased pie plate and bake for a few minutes, until golden brown.
Step 2: Make the Chocolate Mousse Filling
- Cream softened butter and granulated sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add your melted chocolate and mix to combine.
- Add an egg and beat for 5 minutes. Add the second egg and beat for an additional 5 minutes. Add the third egg, and beat for 5 minutes more. Is all this beating necessary? Yes! This gives the mousse its structure so don’t skimp on the beating time!
- Transfer the filling to the prepared crust (be sure your crust is completely cool!), cover tightly, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. When ready to serve, top with sweetened whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
Storing and Other Tips
- Cover the pie tightly, store in the refrigerator, and enjoy within 2-3 days for best results.
- If making ahead, wait to whip your cream until ready to serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. If you have nut allergies or would rather not use nuts, any traditional pastry crust like this Pastry Pie Crust would work. Another delicious alternative would be the oreo crust from this White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake. I would just recommend baking the crust for 8-10 minutes at 350°F to firm it up before filling, since this pie isn’t baked.
Yes! I have not tested this recipe with gluten-free flour, but it should work ok to make the crust. Other options would be store-bought gluten-free crusts, nut crusts, or gluten-free graham cracker or chocolate cookie crusts.
For planning ahead, you can make the crust a day or two ahead of time, just keep it covered until ready to use. You can also make the filling and fill the pie up to one day ahead of time, just keep it tightly covered in the refrigerator. It’s best to whip the cream and top the pie right before serving.
French Silk Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- ½ cup salted butter grated
- ⅓ cup pecan halves coarsely ground in blender or food processor or finely chopped
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Filling
- ¾ cup salted butter softened at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate melted and allowed to cool until just barely warm, not hot
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs pasteurized if possible
Topping
- 1 cup whipping cream
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- shaved chocolate curls from a quality chocolate bar, as desired
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 325℉. Butter, grease, or spray a 9″ pie plate and set aside.
- Combine the crust ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and combine with your fingers until coarse crumbs form. Press into the prepared pie plate, using your fingers or the base of a glass to evenly form a crust.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is becoming golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Filling
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the 1 ½ sticks of butter, vanilla, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the melted chocolate and mix until combined. Add 1 egg and beat for 5 minutes. Add the second egg and beat for another 5 minutes, and then add the third egg, beating for another 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.
- Using a rubber spatula, scrape the chocolate filling into the pie crust. Carefully cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Topping
- When ready to serve, combine whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
- Top pie with whipped cream and chocolate curls.
Notes
- Cover the pie tightly, store in the refrigerator, and enjoy within 2-3 days for best results.
- To create chocolate shavings, simply use a good quality chocolate bar and a vegetable peeler.
Questions & Reviews
Yesterday while I was making a chocolate pie (your chocolate mousse recipe in an oreo cookie crust with crushed oreos on top — easy and delicious) for our family pi day celebration I was thinking it’s too bad pi day is on a Thursday and OBB isn’t posting a pie for it. I’m glad I was wrong and you were posting anyway, even if it was for your birthday and not for pi day. Happy birthday and I can’t wait to try the pie!
Happy birthday! This pie looks so yummy. Is this a dumb question…do you measure the nuts before or after you grind them into crumbs?
Not dumb at all! Before. 🙂
Happy birthday guys!! And what a fabulous way to celebrate!
This is my favorite pie, though I always make it with a graham cracker crust. I made it for Thanksgiving at my in laws’ once. When someone told me it was delicious, instead of saying “thank you” I replied, “I know, right?!” Years later, they still tease me about how “humble” I am. Love your site, love your cookbooks. Happy birthday!
HA! I love that story. This pie TOTALLY deserves it, though–no humility for French silk pie.
So, since this was posted so late, I don’t know if the birthday for the blog is 3/14 or 3/15, but if it was 3/14, this is totally apropos, since 3/14 is pi(e) day. Get it? Ok, I know I’m a nerd. But if it’s 3/14, you should post a birthday pi(e) every year! Thanks for the recipes. And really, it’s not just the food I come here for (since I don’t eat cheese or chocolate, and they come into play quite a bit here)- I love the posts themselves- totally my type of writing and personality.
Thanks!
So, I have to ask, did you do pie because of the date? Today (Well, yesterday now), is Pie Day (3.14).
I wanted to so pie, and then realized what day it was, so it was a happy coincidence. 🙂
It looks yum!
Hooray, I can’t wait to make this..I have tried a few different french silk pie recipes and they have been utter failures. Looking forward to one that works, as all your recipes have for me. Excited!
Ok…so this is totally random and has nothing to do with this amazing pie. The other day I was watching my Denver Time out for Women DVD and watched your presentations and remembered how totally you girls did. Hilarious! Anyway, that night I had a dream that you guys opened a super hip, fresh and airy restaurant(kind of like Sara’s new kitchen) in Chicago named, of course, Our Best Bites, but it wasn’t really Chicago, but in Europe on the street I grew up. And then I saw you two and was totally star struck and started babbling (kinda like I am now) about how much I love your blog and get this…your Reuben sandwich in the restaurant. I don’t even know if I’ve ever had one, or if you even posted a recipe like that. ANYWAY…how random and weird is that?!? Just so you don’t think I am a weird stalker, really…I dream a lot during the night, and ALL my dreams are super random, and weird…but very vivid and I remember them all. Weird!!!
Oh…and happy birthday to this awesome blog! You guys rock! Seriously!
Okay, that is hilarious. And your’re not gonna scare me; I’m the queen of having weird dreams about people. And you’re not crazy, we did have a corned beef panini. I ended up pulling it (maybe temporarily–the file is still there) for various reasons. 🙂
Happy birthday!!! Congratulations on all your success. It is well deserved. Thank you for all the amazing recipes:)