at Wed, 29 Jan 2003 19:35:45 GMT in <1fpjxgn.10eu6i9195ta8aN%
>, (Eric) wrote :

>I really like the chocolate pie crust recipe I found at:
>
> http://pie.allrecipes.com/az/hrshysc...hchcltptlc.asp
>
>I've had a couple of minor problems with it and was hoping people here
>could help out considering my lack of experience with pie crusts.
>
>The first problem I've had is that the crust, when I make it, is 'chewy'
>and I tend to prefer a harder, crispy(?) crust...

The problem with the recipe is that it's got far, far too much sugar. Large
amounts of sugar tend to lead, inevitably, to a chewy texture - think about
what's going to happen when that sugar hits the oven. It turns into
caramel. When that component dominates the product, I think you can see
where the chewiness comes from.

Crispy is no secret - you want a LOT of butter. Consider how butter in
cookies leads to crispness (thanks to a low melting point that quickly
starts driving out moisture.

I think an egg is a mistake - it's just going to make the crust softer. But
a minimal amount of egg is OK, if there were any risk of the crust turning
too crumbly.

So, when you sum it up, what you're looking for is something more like
chocolate shortbread. Here's my recipe, which I have tested in a pie as
well. This is a VERY chocolatey recipe. If you want less chocolatey, you
can reduce the cocoa content in half, increase the flour by 3/8 cup, and
add 2 additional tbsp of butter.

Chocolate Shortbread

1 cup Unbleached white flour
1 cup Cocoa (I use Ghirardelli natural process)
12 tbsp. Unsalted Butter
6 tbsp. Superfine Confectioners' Sugar
1 Vanilla bean

Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, cream the butter with the
sugar. Scrape out the vanilla bean and mix with the creamed butter until
the vanilla is uniformly mixed. Mix it the flour, stirring until the
resulting mixture is in pea-sized balls. Mix in the cocoa, stirring intil
the mixture changes from a sandy consistency to a more clumping consistency
(be patient. The may take a while.) Using your hands, gather the mixture
into a ball. Make sure the ball is smooth and uniform and roll out on an
unfloured board to 1.5- 2 inch thickness. [For pie crust you'll want to
roll it out about 1/4" thick then drape in the dish] Cut into whatever
shape you desire and place on an ungreased metal cookie sheet. Bake for 20
minutes and allow to cool long enough that the shortbread is not too
fragile (10 minutes should do it) then transfer to a plate or wax paper and
allow to cool completely. Makes approximately 12 4-inch bar-shaped cookies.
[It will make 2 complete pie crusts, or 1 large crust for a 12" pie, or 1
extra-thick crust, good if you want to take the pie out of the pan and cut
into slices for serving at, e.g. a bake sale]

The biggest mistake you can make is to over- or under-bake. If you overbake
the resulting cookies will be very dry while if you underbake they will be
very sticky and gummy. Know your oven. A good test is the smell - when it
just starts to shift from very strong unaltered cocoa to a slight cooked
smell, they're done.

--
Alex Rast

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