Gabriela Haslip is the 15-year old who won 2nd place in the cream pie category in this year’s pie contest.

Chocolate Cream Pie

For the crust
1 1/3 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

For Filling
2/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
3 cups whole milk
5 oz. fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

For topping
3/4 cup chilled heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar

Make crust
preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
stir together crumbs, butter and sugar and press on bottom and up side of a 9 inch pie plate.  Bake until crisp, about 15 minutes and cool on a rack.

Make filling
Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt and yolks in a 3 quart heavy saucepan until combined well, then add milk in a stream, whisking.  Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking, 1 minute.  Filling will be thick.

Force through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, then whisk in chocolates, butter and vanilla.  Cover surface of filling with a buttered round of wax paper and cool completely, about 2 hours. Spoon filling into crust and chill pie, loosely covered, at least 6 hours.

Make topping
Just before serving, beat cream with sugar in a bowl using an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks, then spoon on top of pie.