Cream Pie with a Kick

A light chocolate cream pie? Honestly, that conjures up memories of store bought graham cracker crusts filled with sugar free instant pudding mix made by a newly married me almost 10 years ago. Sure they were made with love in our tiny little one bedroom apartment, a kitchen built for one (which didn't even have a dishwasher!), but they weren't very tasty. There are 16 recipes for "Healthy Cream Pie" over at  Cooking Light and I plan on testing out several...but this one is like nothing I've ever made before. Its rich and chocolaty with a hint of spice that doesn't over power its sweetness. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did :)

Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie

Adapted from Cooking Light

Total Time: about 4 hours
Servings: 8 slices.

Crust

10 graham cracker sheets

2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. salt

2 tbsp egg white

2 tbsp melted butter

cooking spray

Filling

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 1/2 tbsp of coffee liquor 

1 3/4 cups 2% reduced-fat milk

2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

1 1/2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place graham cracker sheets into a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs form. Reserve 1 tablespoon of crumbs for topping.

Add to processor the sugar, cinnamon, salt, egg white, and butter and pulse until combined.

Press crumb mixture into a 9 inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees for 9 minutes. Cool completely.

To prepare the filling, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, salt, cayenne, egg, and egg yolk in a small bowl and stir with a whisk.

Heat milk in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until milk reaches 180 degrees. Tiny bubbles will form around the edge but do not boil. 

 Slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Return mixture to the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, about 10 minutes or until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and add coffee liquor and chocolate. Stir until smooth.

Place pan in a large ice-filled bowl for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When mixture is cooled spoon filling into crust.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for about 3 hours or until set. Remove plastic wrap, spread whipped topping over the filling and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs.