After spending weeks food-blog-lurking, I broke down. The excuse was a languorous Friday evening, restive friends, a sudden craving for sugar and an upcoming birthday. Cue chocolate, cue slatherings of butter and rich thick cream. Retire, foul calorie-counter guilt! Go skulk in a cloudy corner with your sour starving face. Gnash your ravenous teeth and wait for after the weekend, for today I shall be wrist deep in cookie crumbs and chocolate chips.
And so, laden heavy with books and attired in my faded pink Irish girl hoodie I made a trip to Giant Eagle to acquire chocolate, butter, heavy cream and chocolate teddy grahams. Gourmet, the headwater of my inspiration has fool proofed (i.e. Silpa-proofed) the recipe, so I will not crowd this post with a reproduction. Clicketty-click if you want to baketty-bake. But I will mention four things.
One: Do resist the temptation of using a ready made pie crust - I did buy one, but only to have one as a backup, a kaala-teeka, if you will, to show the gods of gastronomy that I was not being cocky. It was remarkably easy to use graham-cracker crumbs, and very satisfying to see my diligent thumb prints all across the pie dish.
Two: The five minutes when you wait for the piping hot cream to soften the chocolate. I am sure, when I become a consummate baker, these thing will be passe, but that evening when I stirred the two together, to see - first - the chocolate slowly crumble into the rich cream, the color of old satin - and then - turn into a mahogony tide, I was mighty satisfied.
Three: I made a little boo-boo while garnishing. Slice the strawberries so that only the outer reds show, and lay them insides down. The picture exposes my gauche attempt, with the pale insides and - gasp - even a green stalk or two showing. The effect would have been a world apart had I been mindful.
And Four: In the vein of Irish blessings, and in honor of Notre Dame nearly kicking Fichigan's tight white ahem! - may your house always smell like someone just baked a triple chocolate tart in it. And may you get a generous slice of the same for dessert. And breakfast.
Thanks, Veronica, for your lovely well-lit blog and patient responses. And through you, thanks are due to Epicurious. I will be an often visitor.
AB! Irshad!
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