Lonely Chicago Pie

I have a Sunday morning ritual of getting up early and watching a movie, while the house is still quiet. I always like watching movies, and especially enjoy this tradition as it is a nice bit of relaxation and me time. When I was younger and had cable, it was old movies on the movie channel; in recent years it was Elvis movies (I have many on DVD); and lately, since I've worked through my Elvis collection and have no cable, it’s been whatever movie I think will start my day off right. Yesterday, it was the Waitress.

I love the Waitress not only for the story and the actors, but for the amazing looking pies! I, sit almost slack-jawed, in amazement of how easy they seem to be to make, and at how beautiful the scenes are in which Kerri Russell’s character (Jenna) is making them. I wonder if that was part of the point? The movie doesn't really provide you with instructions on how to bake said pies though, so I've never been sure about attempting to make one of them. Yesterday was a different story...

The Bad Baby Pie (first called the "I Don't Want Earl's Baby Pie") sounded good, but we are not big on quiches in our house, and the Marshmallow Mermaid Pie sounded intriguing. But, in the scene where Jenna teaches Dr. Pomatter how to make one of her mother's pies - the Lonely Chicago - I found my pie. Now, you know I don't normally like chocolate, but chocolate ganache (especially made with dark chocolate) is a bit of a different story, and if you put berries on it you practically have me sold. So, I decided to attempt it.

I talked Nick, who was having a bit of a bad week, into helping me. We can all benefit from baking therapy! He chopped up the chocolate.

Then, I stirred it while it melted in a double boiler.

Then, he stirred while I measured and added cream.

I got the crust ready and he poured in the chocolate,

which he then spread out evenly.

Next, we washed the berries, added some brandy to them and mashed slightly,

and spooned them over the chocolate.

After that, we put it into the oven for 30 minutes, chilled it on the counter for 1 hour and in the fridge for 30 minutes. Finally, we cut some and ate it!

That is not the most picture pretty piece of pie, but it sure tasted awesome! The pie set nicely, the chocolate was like dark chocolate pudding, the berries were nice and firm, some tart and some sweet. The crust was my only complaint. After my morning movie time, we did a lot of housework, projects and grocery shopping. By the time we got around to making the pie, we were both a little tired and decided to use a store bough pie crust. It was a little thinner and not as flaky and tasty as we wanted. Next time, I think we will make the pie before the housework, so we have time to make the crust too.

Like I said, the movie only outlined the basic idea of the pie, so I had to use some of the skills I've learned over the past year and wing it. That was an interesting thought - me making up a recipe. A year ago, I wouldn't have thought this could happen, but it turned out wonderfully!

Here's the info:

Ingredients

about 12 ounces of dark chocolate

about 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

3 small containers of berries, or about 3 cups total (I used 2 of blackberries and 1 of raspberries)

1 tablespoon brandy

1 pie crust

Instructions

Make pie crust and place in a 9 inch pie pan and set aside

Pre heat over to 350 degrees

Shave the chocolate into little pieces and melt it over medium heat in a double boiler

once the chocolate is melted, slowly stir in the cream (don't do this too fast otherwise it might seize up on you and not mix well)

Once the chocolate and cream are well incorporated, pour into pie crust and even out with spatula and set aside

Wash the berries, dry them on a paper towel and put them into a bowl

Measure the brandy and pour over the berries

mash the berries slightly with a spoon or potato masher (don't mash too much otherwise they will be wet mush)

Spoon the berries carefully over the chocolate in the pie crust (don't plop them into the chocolate too hard, otherwise they will sink)

Bake the pie for about 30 minutes, or until soft-set (this means that when you shake the pan softly, it wiggles only a little and seems semi-set, or hardened a bit)

Cool the pie on the counter for at least one hour, then place in fridge for at least 30 minutes to finish setting

Note - the pie will be a fudgy consistency the longer you let it set in the fridge, and if you eat it right out of the fridge in the days after making it. If you want it to be a more pudding consistency, bring it to room temperature before serving.