A rich chocolate peppermint pudding in a flaky pie crust, topped with a snowy mountain of fluffy whipped cream. The perfect dessert for your holiday table.Pudding is slightly adapted from Food & Wine's Double-Chocolate Pudding recipe.
2Tbutter,room temperature and cut into small pieces
1/2tspvanilla extract
1/2tsppeppermint extract
Whipped Cream
2cheavy whipping cream
2Tgranulated sugar
1tspvanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
crushed candy canes, for decorating
Instructions
Pie Crust
In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Using your hands, massage butter pieces into the flour mixture until they are about pea-sized (or slightly bigger).
Drizzle cold water into the butter-flour mixture 1 T at a time, gently mixing with a fork or hands as you go. (You may not need all of the water.)Once your dough gets to the point where all flour is moistened and it's starting to come together, press together GENTLY to form a ball. Make sure not to overwork the dough – you want those butter chunks to stay cold!
Wrap dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour. (You can do this part ahead of time and refrigerate overnight.)
Preheat oven to 425°F
Roll chilled dough out on a lightly floured surface to a roundish shape about 1/8" thick. Place in your pie pan and trim the edges so you have about a 1" overhang. Fold the overhang under so you have a clean, thick edge, and crimp as desired. Using the tines of a fork, dock the bottom of the pie crust.If the oven isn't done preheating yet, place the pie crust into the fridge to chill until the oven is ready.
Line the pie crust with a piece of parchment paper, making sure it overhangs the edges of the pie pan. Fill to the top with pie weights, dried beans, or uncooked rice. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until the crust edge looks set and is starting to lightly brown. Remove the crust from the oven and use the edges of the parchment paper to lift your pie weights out of the pan. Place the crust back into the oven and bake for another 10-12 minutes, or until it is fully baked and evenly browned.Let the crust cool completely before filling.
Chocolate Peppermint Pudding
In a large saucepan, combine 2 cups of the milk, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat while stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk the cornstarch with the unsweetened cocoa powder and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until combined. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of milk and whisk until smooth. Whisk into the hot milk in the saucepan. Return the pan to the heat and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, whisking constantly, about 2 minutes or until the pudding is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the egg and egg yolks. Gradually add about 1 cup of the hot pudding into the eggs, whisking until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape the pudding back into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, just until it comes to boil, about 2 minutes. Strain through a wire mesh strainer into a medium heatproof bowl.
Add the chopped chocolate, butter, vanilla, and peppermint extract. Whisk until the chocolate and butter are melted and the pudding is smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour finished pudding into your prepared pie crust.Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pudding and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove plastic wrap before adding the whipped cream.
Whipped Cream
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl using a hand mixer), beat heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Pile all of the whipped cream onto your chilled pie, spreading it all the way to the edges.Just before serving, sprinkle crushed candy canes on top of the whipped cream. Cut, serve, and enjoy!