I still remember the very first French Silk Chocolate Pie that I ever made! I got the old classic recipe out of an ancient cookbook that I had bought at a garage sale that was HUGE and weighed a ton!! “Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking / Deluxe Illustrated Edition”! 1959!!

1,536 pages!!!! (And I have looked at every single page!)

What a TREASURE of a FIND at a garage sale! Best TWO DOLLARS that I ever spent!! I know. Ridiculous, right? 😀

This book taught me how to really cook and bake! I hardly use it anymore, though, because every time I get it down to look at it, it disintegrates a little bit more. 🙁

But this classic pie is especially dear to me, because it’s the dry first recipe that I ever made from that enormously scary-huge, and intimidating book.

I have since played with the recipe, though, quite a bit! (*Check out {this raspberry version} as well!)

We hadn’t had dessert in quite some time. I nearly had everything on hand to make one, and all I needed to complete this was just a little Cool Whip. So a new chocolate pie was about to be born!

I’ve made minted ones before, but not yet with mint liqueurs that I recall.
So a plan was soon hatched!

A little Cream de Menthe and a splash of Baileys
sounded like a winning combination to me!

You can make a base of a graham cracker crust or start with a baked and cooled pastry crust. Either way works wonderfully. It’s just a matter of which you prefer or are in the mood for that day! 😀

The only “trick” to this pie….is beating. Beating, beating, beating, and beating some more.

I remember my arms KILLING me when I first started making them and I only had a hand-held beater. I once made 5 of them as gifts…in one day!!

Thank god for stand-up mixers!!!

But you must beat each egg for 5 minutes to melt all of the grains of sugar to get that “french silk” consistency. And scrape the bowl and paddle a lot, too.

*And please, no more silly, rude comments about raw eggs this time. Only one in every 20,000+ eggs has even a TRACE of salmonella in it, and not even enough to make you sick! You’re more likely to win the lottery or get struck by lightning to actually get one single egg in a LIFETIME that might, might, give you a tummy ache.

I’ve been making this pie since I was about 19 years old. I have NEVER gotten sick, nor made anyone else sick. And I’m 52 years old now.

Besides, didn’t you ever eat cookie dough??
Lick the bowl and beaters from cake or brownie batters??

That’s what I thought. 😉

So let’s move on. 😉

Though some will scrunch their noses, I do like to use Cool Whip for this particular pie. (It reminds me of my Grandma) and it doesn’t melt and collapse. Plus, you can fold food coloring into it and tint it different colors! In this case, green, to resemble the mint flavor in the back!

Garnishes are whatever you have on hand and want to use to make each slice as special as if you were dining in a fine restaurant! I happened to have some truffles and some piroulines left from Christmas and a few maraschino cherries! I also finely grated some chocolate over the tops!

And the slices were stunning!!

This is actually a VERY simple and easy pie to make that uses minimal ingredients. The classic version is my favorite pie, but this may just be it’s rival!!

I so hope that you give it a try! It’s truly a very memorable and special pie!

8 servings

Creme de Menthe & Baileys French Silk Chocolate Pie

Ingredients

1 stick real butter (1/2 cup), softened/room temp
3/4 sup sugar
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate baking squares, melted and cooled but still pourable
1 1/2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate baking squares, melted and cooled but still pourable
2 extra-large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbl. Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur
1 Tbl. Creme de Menthe Liqueur
1 (8 oz.) tub Cool Whip, thawed, and folded with 10 drops green food coloring, or to desired color

For Graham Crust:

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
5 Tbl. melted butter

Optional Garnishes:

extra whipped cream
Andes Mint Candies
Chocolate Mint Truffles
Pirouline Rolled Wafer Cookies
red or green maraschino cherries
crushed candy canes (sprinkle on serving slices immediately before serving, no earlier or they get chewy)

Instructions

In mixer bowl, beat softened butter and sugar.

Mix in melted cooled chocolates and vanilla.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating 5 minutes each! Scrape down entire bowl and beater several times with each egg to make sure you incorporate all of the grains of sugar. It should be VERY creamy, not grainy at all.

Add liqueurs to taste, and beat in.

Pour into cooled graham crust and spoon level.

Chill for several hours until completely set.

In medium bowl, add Cool Whip and food coloring, and fold until desired color is achieved. Spoon over top of pie.

Garnish as desired. (Store covered and refrigerated).

Let pie sit out for 30 minutes before slicing for extra creaminess!