Creamy Chocolate Tart

My grandma has been the pie maker in our family for decades. Unfortunately, she hasn't been able to get a chocolate cream pie to "set" recently, so cutting the pie is messy. My mom is craving a good chocolate pie, so I want to figure out either a good alternative or a good recipe. A chocolate tart seems sure to set-up properly. My concern is that it might be too dense and rich to serve as an adequate substitution for chocolate cream pie.

Objective
Make a homemade chocolate tart to test as a potential holiday pie.

Materials 
1 Baked 9" pie crust or pastry shell, cooled
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened and cut in chunks
2 cups bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup milk

Methods
1. In a saucepan, bring cream, sugar and salt to a boil, stirring constantly. Pour over the chocolate and butter in a large bowl (a batter bowl or another bowl with a spout works well for this). 
2. Let stand 2 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the chocolate and butter are covered with the hot mixture.
3. Stir (slowly to prevent bubbles) until smooth.
4. Whisk in the milk, slowly.
5. Pour into the cooled crust.
6. Chill until firm (2 hours or over night).


Results
The tart shell is crispy. The chocolate filling set perfectly over night. The filling is rich and firm, but very creamy.


Discussion and Future Directions
This is a deliciously rich tart. For some, it might not be sweet enough. I used 53% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips. For people who do not like dark chocolate, it might be best to halve the bittersweet chocolate with milk chocolate or use semisweet chips. It's so rich that you probably want to slice the pie in slices no thicker than 1-inch. I love chocolate, but I wasn't able to finish this on my own. I had to take it to work and leave it for my coworkers.


I don't think this chocolate tart would satisfy chocolate cream pie lovers. It has the feel of creamy fudge in a pie crust rather than creamy pie in a pie crust. Cream pie is more like thick pudding. Overall, the tart is delicious. It is good on it's own but could be topped with whipped cream, raspberries, white chocolate shavings, nuts, etc. The assembly time is minimal, but it does take around 2 1/2 hours because of the time to chill the dough. Give it a try! 
 
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