We’ve had a string of bad pies around the Waz Household this last week. First I made a cookie pie that was in need of a whole lot more sugar, and something else that we couldn’t quite figure out. I debated doing some fiddling and tweaking to make it a contender for Pie Hour, but in the end decided it just wasn’t good enough to make the cut anyway.
So next we decided on a chocolate pie face-off. I already have a spectacular Chocolate Cream Pie that is planned for Pie Hour (and happens to be the first pie I reach for when eating leftover pie), but it couldn’t hurt to have another chocolate pie or two on the table, right?!
I had two new-to-me chocolate pie recipes that sounded like they could be contenders for Pie Hour. I’ve gotten quite particular on the pies that make the cut for the table, so I picked up the ingredients I needed to make a Chocolate-Marshmallow Pie from Food Network magazine and a German Chocolate Pie from Taste of Home. The Chocolate-Marshmallow I thought would appeal to the little ones at our celebration who think they don’t care for pie, but like pie if it involved candy in some way. The German Chocolate seemed like a really fun twist on a German Chocolate Cake. I mean, German Chocolate Cake really is all about that gooey concoction of a topping, and since that was going on this chocolate pie, how could they be bad?
Well… I made one pretty big error when I made these pies together. And that was making them at the same time for a side-by-side tasting. As we all dug into the Chocolate Marshmallow Pie, we all quickly became dismayed and disappointed. The texture of the pie was awful- it was like a cross between a brownie and a piece of fudge, AND it was really dense. It was difficult to get a fork into it. We all liked the marshmallow whipped cream on top, but that was hardly a reason to want to even take another bite of the pie. On top of the horrid texture, the chocolate flavor was just plain odd. It was kind of bittersweet, which was bizarre anyway since we started with milk chocolate for the base. We all agreed instantly that it was not a contender for Pie Hour, and we won’t be finishing the pie. I did go in for a second piece the next day to see if it had improved, but it really hadn’t. It was just plain bad. I went to the Food Network website to leave a review, plunked in my poor review, and then they ate it. And now when I go back to the recipe, it doesn’t even give me the option to leave a review at all. It’s like they know it’s a bad pie and they don’t want anyone to know.
Anyway, disappointed with the first pie, three of us (Zander does not care for coconut much) turned to the German Chocolate Pie, hoping for better news. Once again, we were disappointed. Oh, the topping part was very good, but we weren’t getting even one hint of chocolate or flavor beyond the topping. It wasn’t bad like the first pie, so we finished our pieces, but by the end of the slice, we figured it was not going to be a contender, and the meal ended on a big bummer of a down note.
Fast forward to the next day and I see these pies in the fridge. I decided to try the German Chocolate one more time, because of the two pies, that was the one I really had been rooting for. Lo and behold, it was exceptionally better! I could taste chocolate with the topping, and I was pleased with the overall texture of the pie. Nice and creamy, and it definitely reminded me of German Chocolate Cake. I then asked Abigail to try a second slice, and Andy had one later on. We all agreed, it was much better by itself, and we faulted the awful chocolate-marshmallow pie for dulling our taste buds against this pie that was so much better. After much discussion and deliberation though, we all unanimously agree that this is not a pie for Pie Hour.
This German Chocolate Pie is delicious. It’s got a great texture and is an overall good pie. But it’s quite delicate as far as the taste goes, and we feel that serving it alongside any other pie will just muddle the flavors and it’s better than that. So while we like the pie, it won’t make the cut for Pie Hour. It will go in the file as a keeper recipe and I will definitely make it again, but it will be a standalone pie to enjoy all by itself with a cup of coffee.
You can find the recipe for the Contest Winning German Chocolate Pie at the Taste of Home website.
Now I am turning my attention to a series of pies involving fresh cranberries. I hope we have better luck with one of those than with the collection of chocolate pies! I also have an idea to do something with pineapple…