Do you guys have those moments in your life that you always think back to when you’re referencing past events? Like…was that before or after my first child was born? Was that before or after we moved across the country? Or got married? Or started a new job or bought a house?
Five years ago (and honestly, in so many ways, it feels like a lifetime ago), my husband and I had just moved to Louisiana. We had a 3-year-old who is now 8 (yes, I can do simple math) and a baby who is now 5 (again with the simple math). We were living in a teeeeeny tiny little rental house, the economy was on the verge of collapsing, and I didn’t know a single soul.
On the other side of the country, there was my friend Sara, who had a 2-year-old and was verypregnant with her second baby.
And we just decided to start putting recipes up on a blog, just for fun, kind of to keep ourselves sane.
I don’t know about the sane part, but the blog part is still here, 5 years, one name change (who’s been here since we were The Daily Bite??), at least 4 logo designs, 2 cookbooks, and 793 recipes later.
There’s no way to explain what a blessing this blog has been in our lives. It’s forced us to learn things we never thought we’d have to learn, do scary and wonderful things we never thought we’d do, and get to know people we never would have the chance to meet otherwise. You guys, if we didn’t have people reading this, this whole blog project would have fallen to the wayside a long time ago. You have read and loved and supported us, you’ve cooked and laughed and cried with us and we truly can’t thank you enough. For all those of you who we’ve had the chance to meet, or talk to, or email, we’ve loved it. For those of you who lurk in the shadows, that’s okay–we love you, too.
We’re not Oprah, so giving everyone a car is out of the question. Instead, I’m giving you pie. The catch is that you have to make it yourself.
I have not had French Silk Pie since I was a single lass in college and my roommate Sara (not Our Best Bites Sara…our only experience with being roommates is two nights in a hotel in Des Moines) made it so our apartment could impress an apartment full of guys. Why haven’t I made it in the past…um…12 1/2 years (it hurts to write those numbers)? Because it has raw eggs in it. And you guys know how I feel about cooked eggs, let alone raw eggs.
The whole raw egg issue is a hot topic. We’ve talked raw eggs before and opinions on the safety of raw eggs is all over the map. Here are the opinions and options you’re likely to run across (DISCLAIMER: THESE ARE NOT OUR BEST BITES’ OPINIONS! If you eat raw eggs and get sick and sue us, that’ll be a bummer for everyone!):
1) The chance of contracting salmonella from raw eggs is very small, so don’t worry about it.
2) If you eat raw farm-fresh eggs, you should be fine.
3) French people eat raw eggs all the time and they’re fine. Anyone who worries about contracting diseases from raw eggs are pansies. Now go away or they shall taunt us a second time.
3) If you wash eggs with antibacterial soap, it will kill the germs.
4) You can “pasteurize” the eggs by an elaborate microwave method that probably works and sounds like something that would make me not want to eat eggs for 10 years.
5) You can buy pasteurized eggs that are safe to eat raw.
I personally have never known anyone to get sick from eating raw eggs, but I still don’t do it or advocate it., but I have deep-rooted egg-related neuroses that may require therapy. And up until recently, I haven’t been able to find pasteurized eggs, until I stumbled (not literally…that would have been messy) upon them at my beloved Kroger.
They are expensive. For me, they’re not everyday eggs. But I can be 95% okay with eating French Silk Pie now, until I actually eat it, at which point I am 123% okay with eating it because it is the most delicious and decadent and best pie of all the pies.
For the crust, you’re going to need a stick of cold, salted butter, grated with a 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.
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.
For the filling, you’ll need 1 1/2 sticks of salted butter, 1 cup sugar, vanilla, 3 eggs, and 3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate that’s been melted and cooled (so it’s still liquid, just not hot chocolatey liquid).
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the 1 1/2 sticks of butter 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. Yes, that is 15 minutes of beating. No, you may not cheat and not mix it for that long; only sadness will befall you. 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. When ready to serve, top with sweetened whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Makes 8 slices.
Thank you guys, again, for 5 of the most amazing years of our lives! Here’s to many more years of delicious fun-filled blog friendship in the future!
French Silk Pie
Recipe from Martha Stewart
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 stick salted butter, grated
1/3 cup pecan halves, coarsely ground in blender or food processor or finely chopped
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Filling:
1 1/2 sticks salted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs (pasteurized if possible)
Sweetened whipped cream
Shaved chocolate curls
Instructions:
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.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the 1 1/2 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. When ready to serve, top with sweetened whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Makes 8 slices.
It says to refrigerate for “at least 4 hours.” Is there an “at most” amount of time? Wondering how far in advance I could make this? Excited to try this!
You could make it 1-2 days in advance if you want! ?
Made this for Thanksgiving last week and it was AMAZING! Everybody raved about it. I had serious doubts but seriously I’m already wondering when I can make it again. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
Hey there. Just wondering if you could sub almonds for pecans. Thanks.
I think I have to disagree with the comment above, I made this pie last night (with a few tweaks, so maybe that makes my opinion invalid) and it was totally worth it! In fact I thought that it was incredibly easy for how amazing the end result was. I used a graham cracker crust (which makes the recipes even simpler) and replaced 1/4 cup butter with a heaping 1/2 cup of peanut butter for a chocolate peanut butter pie of deliciousness! I would really like to try and use this recipe to make a peanut butter pie but I was afraid of taking out the chocolate in case there would be a lack of flavor since I didn’t know how much peanut butter I should add and if I should take out more butter when adding more peanut butter. If you have any suggestions on how to make this a peanut butter pie, I would love to hear it!
i can honestly say the amount of work this pie takes is not worth it. It was exhausting. And in all reality all my friends say it tastes exactly like kraft instant pudding mix. this one wasnt the best
This sounds amazing!! I have to try this!
Hi, just a quick question… Your blog says to use 1 & 1/2 sticks of butter .. what does this work out in grams/ mass?
The recipe looks delicious … Looking forward to trying it 🙂
Also happy bithday … Love your blog 🙂
MMM, this looks amazing! So, just a quick question: Any suggestions on a substitute for pecans if someone with food allergies were to consume this? Maybe just leave them out? thanks!
Since I am pregnant I was a bit concerned with the raw eggs. But after seeing the pictures of this pie I just had to have it. So I cooked the eggs with half of the sugar in a double boiler until they reached 160 F. I whisked it the whole time to keep it liquid. And then I let them cool and followed the rest of the recipe as written. For the steps about the egg I just added 1/3 of my pasteurized mixture for each egg. I’m not sure how it compares to the recipe as written, but my husband and I thought it was delicious!!
I made this last night with fresh eggs from my chickens. My new favorite pie! I didn’t have any grainy problems. I scraped the bowl a couple of times after each egg. I set a timer for the 5 minute mixing for each egg also. Fantastic!
That pie was delicious for our Easter dessert! Thanks, Kate. I do wonder if powdered sugar–instead of the granulated sugar (i.e. regular table sugar?)–would make my pie less grainy (as Kirsten on 3.20 also mentioned). Thanks to you, Kate, I now know where to go to get “safe eggs.” My local Dillons (Kroger) thankfully carries them, which my husband especially appreciates. He *hates* it when I eat raw cookies dough, brownie batter, etc, so it’s worth literally paying twice as much for those lovely shelled pasteurized eggs. Happy (late) birthday to your blog, which I’ve enjoyed for years, as well as both of your cookbooks. I use the books at least weekly! Baked creamy chicken taquitos is our go-to for company dinner. Thanks for all of your hard work and creativity!
I wouldn’t use powdered sugar–it’s just a different beast. My biggest piece of advice to keep it from being grainy is to make SURE you’re beating the filling for the full 5 minutes after adding each egg and scraping down the sides of the bowl completely and frequently.
Hope that helps! 🙂
I made this yesterday, and it is AH-MAY-ZING!!! Happy Blog-Birthday! I’m SOOO glad you ladies do this, because I was getting so bored of making the same stuff all the time! I have both your cookbooks, and we definitely have some new family favorites. Congratulations, and here’s to many, many more years of you two doing something you love that we love, too!
Happy blog birthday! What a milestone.