In preparation for a final exam, Cassie has been working hard on her singing and guitar playing in recent weeks. She sounds great, but that hasn't stopped her from catastrophizing about what will happen when she fails the exam and gets kicked out of her music therapy program. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Instead, the exam went really well and Cassie got some great feedback on the "massive" strides she's made just since her midterm (which is especially impressive given our family singing genes). That called for a celebration. Celebrating good news is a happiness-enhancing strategy that falls under happiness activity number 9 ("savoring life's joys"), and I'm happy to say that we've already been doing this one for years.
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Years ago, I made a chocolate tofu pudding and Cassie loved it, way more than everyone else who tried it. She lobbied me, unsuccessfully, to make it again for years, until she finally forgot about it. But I recently saw Alton Brown's recipe for Moo-Less Chocolate Pie, which is basically a pie shell filled with chocolate tofu pudding. The recipe looked a lot better than the pudding recipe that I'd made before, and most of the reviews bordered on the ecstatic,* so I thought it was worth a shot to surprise Cassie. It can't be any easier, even if you make a homemade crust, and all five of our reviewers gave it a big thumbs up.
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*E.g., "I have made this pie several times and it is by far the most decadent chocolate pie ever and I am not a tofu lover"; "this thing was RIDICULOUSLY good"; "This has been my easy 'go-to' fantastic recipe, made this many times and everyone always asks for the recipe."
this thing was RIDICULOUSLY good
this thing was RIDICULOUSLY good
this thing was RIDICULOUSLY good
Secret-Ingredient Chocolate Pie
Adapted from Alton Brown via his website and the Food Network
Time: 30 minutes to make and bake the crust (1 hour to cool), 18 minutes to make the filling and finish the pie (2 or more hours to set)
You can also use a chocolate wafer crust, homemade or store-bought. A fair number of the people who commented on this recipe on the Food Network website said they substituted coffee for the coffee liqueur with good results; some of them said they stirred some sugar into the coffee to counteract its bitterness (you can try a pinch of salt too). AB says to refrigerate the pie for 2 hours or until the filling sets firm. I left it for 4 hours and it still wasn’t as firm as the picture on AB’s website. Parking the pie in the fridge overnight would probably be a safer bet.
Crust (see note)
180 grams graham crackers (12 crackers)
25 grams (2 tablespoons) brown sugar
15 grams (3 tablespoons) cocoa powder
85 grams (6 tablespoons) butter, melted and cooled slightly
Filling
340 grams (12 ounces/2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
80 grams (⅓ cup) coffee liqueur (see note)
1 teaspoon (5 grams) vanilla extract
21 grams (1 tablespoon) honey
1 pound (454 grams) silken tofu, well drained
1. For the crust: Place a rack in the center of the oven; heat to 350 degrees.
2. Break the graham crackers into rough pieces in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal “s” blade; process to fine crumbs. Add the brown sugar and cocoa powder, and pulse until evenly combined. Drizzle over the melted butter, then pulse until combined and the mixture holds together when pressed between your fingers.
3. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch pie plate. Press firmly and evenly into the bottom and all the way up the sides of the pan. Bake until the crust is set, fragrant, darkened slightly, and looks dry, about 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely, about 1 hour. Wipe the food processor bowl and blade with a paper towel but don’t wash yet.
4. For the filling: In a large saucepan, bring 1 inch of water to a simmer over medium heat. Place the chocolate chips, coffee liqueur, and vanilla in a heatproof medium bowl set over the simmering water. Stir often with a silicone spatula, just until the chips are melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the honey.
5. Scrape the mixture into the food processor. Add the tofu and process until completely smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
6. Pour and scrape the mixture into the cooled crust. Refrigerate until the filling is set and firm, 2 hours or more (see note). Serves 8.
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