No Bake French Silk Pie - no raw eggs

This pie was born out of tragic life circumstances: I didn’t have a functioning oven for a couple weeks.

Oh, the chaos!

Listen, I was not gonna let that little fact keep me from having dessert so I had to come up with something. I find no bake pies not challenging enough, so there had to be some sort of cooking involved, something a little bit more sophisticated than just mixing a few ingredients together. A french silk pie!

But no raw eggs. I usually try to avoid raw eggs whenever I can; so bringing them up to a safe temperature was an important step. The crust is an easy mixture of graham cracker crumbs, almond meal, melted butter, and peanut butter that comes together in seconds. It gives the tart texture and is a wonderful base for the silky chocolate filling. Instead of the traditional whipped cream, this one is topped with a thin layer of creme fraiche that works beautifully with the rich chocolate flavour. You can’t get silkier than this – or easier than this. This recipe was a hit, and if you try it please tag me on instagram so I can see it!

No Bake French Silk Pie - No Raw Eggs

Servings: 8
Time: 30mins + 3 hours
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Crust:

100 grams graham cracker crumbs
70 grams almond meal
85 grams unsalted butter, melted
55 grams peanut butter, melted

Filling:

240 g heavy cream
230 g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
115 g unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into cubes
150 g creme fraiche

Directions

Prepare the crust: In a bowl – or food processor – add the graham cracker crumbs, almond meal, butter, and peanut butter. Stir until combined and moist. Press the crust into an 8-inch round tart pan and set aside.
Prepare the filling: Whisk the heavy cream on medium speed until stiff peaks form, 2- 4 minutes..
In a microwave-safe bowl, add the chocolate and microwave at low power in 20-second increments, stirring after each, until completely melted and smooth. Set aside.
In a large, heatproof bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and water. Beat on medium speed until pale yellow and thick, about 5 minutes. Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with 1 inch of simmering water over low heat, and stir constantly, until it reaches 160 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from the heat and beat the mixture on medium speed until it is light and fluffy and cooled to room temperature, 5- 8 minutes.
IAdd in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract to the cooled egg mixture and mix until incorporated. Beat in the butter, a few pieces at a time, until combined. Using a spatula, fold in the whipped cream until fully incorporated. Spread evenly over the graham crust and refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.
Spread the creme fraiche over the top of the chilled pie and garnish with chocolate shavings. Serve.

Tips & Tricks: If you can’t find creme fraiche, you can absolutely use whipped cream instead. Almond butter works great as substitute for the peanut butter.