French Silk Pie with Chocolate-Coffee (Grounds) Crust Recipe on Food52 (2024)

As a kid, I loved Edy's French Silk ice cream, and I'm not entirely sure why, I didn't enjoy coffee, or anything else that was coffee-flavored really, but I fell for that light, whipped texture of mocha ice cream flecked with chocolate shards and my mom and I had a carton of it on hand in the freezer pretty much at all times. I enjoyed the occasional slice of French Silk pie, too, but never understood why the ice cream was coffee-flavored, but the pie typically was not. This pie was created out of my desire to bring those flavors together.

For the coffee grounds, any grind will do: I've made this with coarse grounds from a French press as well as fine grounds from a drip coffeemaker. While the grind won't impact the results, the quality of the coffee will, a high-quality coffee will lend a lot of flavor to the final pie, older, less flavorful beans, not as much. I enjoy the very pronounced coffee flavor that you get from the grounds from fresh beans, but if you're wary of too much of a good thing, you can always dial back the coffee flavor by only using a couple of tablespoons of grounds in the crust if desired.

As written, this recipe requires planning ahead to allow time to make coffee (ground)-infused whipped cream. If you don't want to wait, feel free to top your pie with plain whipped cream instead.

For the chocolate cookies, any crunchy chocolate variety will work, whether wafer-shaped or otherwise (I used Field Day Cocoa Chip Wildlife Friends Cookies). It will take about 9 ounces to get the 2 cups of cookie crumbs you need. I crush them in a mini food processor, but a zip-top bag and a rolling pin works, too.

The chocolate filling is an amalgamation from multiple French Silk Pie recipes, including
ones fromThe Vanilla Bean Blog andHalf Baked Harvest (via Cup of Jo).

And yes, the eggs are raw. If this is a concern, use pasteurized eggs and/or don't serve this pie to anyone with a compromised immune system. —Lindsay-Jean Hard

Directions

1. For the whipped topping: Combine 1/2 cup coffee grounds and 1 cup heavy cream in a container with a lid (like a glass jar) and refrigerate to infuse the flavor—2 hours if you're impatient, or up to 12 if you've got time to burn.
2. Strain the cream, using cheesecloth or a super-fine mesh sieve, and discard the grounds. Add the powdered sugar to the cream, whip until soft peaks form, and refrigerate until needed.
3. For the crust: Heat the oven to 375° F.
4. In a medium bowl, mix together the crushed cookie crumbs and the remaining 1/4 cup coffee grounds, then drizzle in the melted butter and stir to coat everything in butter (it might not clump at all, that's okay!).
5. Dump the buttery crumbs into the pie plate and press to form an even crust. (I like to use a measuring cup to do this, but fingers work, too). Place the pie plate in the freezer while you wait for the oven to finish heating up.
6. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
7. For the filling: Whip the 1/2 cup heavy cream until soft peaks form, then cover and refrigerate the whipped cream until needed.
8. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or with a double boiler, and set aside to cool slightly.
9. Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and cream until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
10. Add in the cooled chocolate and vanilla and whisk again until combined.
11. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 5 minutes after each addition, and then fold in the reserved plain whipped cream.
12. Pour the filling into cooled crust, spread it out, then top with the coffee-flavored whipped cream. Refrigerate to set, at least 2 hours or overnight.

Recipe by: Lindsay-Jean Hard