Bossy Italian Wife : Chocolate Pie Showdown

Some of you might know that I have been on a dessert bender lately; I was always under the misconception that I was a "cook" not a "baker" and so I just didn't try... I know that this was lame, which is why I am glad that I have sought to change this. Since I had already tackled raspberry ricotta cheesecake, tiramisu, and key lime pie, it was time to take on a new challenge: chocolate.

On a Saturday, I woke up and was stricken with a need to make French Silk Pie (get the recipe here). The next day, having left over chocolate in my pantry and guests coming that night, I thought to myself, "why not make another chocolate pie and have a showdown!" I decided to go in a more America direction and made a chocolate cream pie with meringue (here is a similar recipe).

Tackling chocolate pies wasn't as hard as I imagined it to be. I was intimidated by melting the chocolate properly and making sure not to burn the milk or cream... I was worried about the pies setting properly, etc. Let's face it, baking is tough business, and there is a lot that can go wrong. And it's not like cooking...because when you are cooking, there is always room to salvage whatever might have gone wrong in the process. Not so in baking!

My concerns, though, we unfounded in the end as my baking skills seemed to have come to the appropriate level for the recipes I was making. Here are pictures of the processes! As for who won the chocolate pie showdown? Well, the consensus among my guests was that both pies were good, although totally different. Overall? The favorite was the French silk pie.

French Silk Pie: