Chocolate Covered Pretzel Pie is the cream pie equivalent to your favorite snack. It’s chocolatey, crunchy and salty sweet.
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Chocolate covered pretzels are a tasty snack. Chocolate cream pie, in a salty-sweet pretzel crust, with whipped cream…also a tasty snack. And your next crowd-pleasing recipe.
And it’s easy.
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The salty-sweet taste sensation is trendy for a reason. There’s nothing better than a little hint of salt with sugary goodness like chocolate or caramel.
Making a crumb crust with pretzels turned a simple chocolate pie into a salty-sweet masterpiece.
Like other chocolate custard pies I cooked the pudding filling on the stove. With plenty of milk, eggs and chocolate I created a silky smooth custard. My other favorite custard pie, Coconut Mango Pie, bakes right in the crust. But this one cooks on the stove. Super easy and no-fail.
Chocolate covered pretzel pie is a salty-sweet taste sensation.
You can totally crush your pretzels in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, but I love blending them just right in a food processor like this one. I find it gets them to be just the right texture in a few pulses.
If you’re making your own chocolate curls or shavings, there are a few ways to do it. If I have a thick chunk of chocolate I just use a wide vegetable peeler to shave the chocolate into little curls and shavings. Darker chocolate will come of in shavings and milk or lighter semi sweet chocolate will curl a bit with this method. This is how I made the shavings in these images!
Make chocolate curls for your chocolate covered pretzel pie topping!
The other method is melting chocolate, spreading it on the back of a baking sheet, and letting it cool. Then you use a metal spatula to scrape the chocolate just so, to make big, beautiful curls. I used this method on the pretty curls for my Pink Pretzel Cake. Ohh pretzels again!
Topped with fresh whipped cream, chocolate curls and extra pretzel sticks, this glorious pie is going to be a new favorite.
- 4 oz (3 cups) broken pretzel sticks
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter melted
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
- Pinch of salt
- 2½ cups whole milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 3 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 3 tbsp confectioners' sugar
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Heat oven to 350ºF. In a food processor combine pretzels, ¼ cup brown sugar and butter; blend until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Press mixture firmly into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake crust until fragrant and just turning golden, 10 to 15 min; cool.
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2. In a medium saucepan whisk together ½ cup brown sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, salt and milk. Place over medium heat and stir until sugar is just dissolved, about 2 min. Whisk in egg yolks. Cook, stirring constantly, until custard thickens and just boils, about 5 min. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and vanilla. Place pan in a bowl of ice and water and stir occasionally until custard cools.
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3. pour custard into cooled crust and press plastic wrap directly onto surface. chill until firm, 4 hr or up to a day.
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4. Whip cream and confectioners' sugar until soft peaks form, spread over pie and garnish with extra pretzels and chocolate shavings.
You can totally crush your pretzels in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, but I love blending them just right in a food processor like this one. I find it gets them to be just the right texture in a few pulses.
Use more pretzels in baking and make my Pink Pretzel Party Cake. Use your own colors of chocolate to customize it!
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Recipe by Tara Bench. Original published in Ladies’ Home Journal Oct 2011. Photography Maura McEvoy. Food Styling Sara Neumeier. Prop Styling Cindy DiPrima
Pretzels? What an interesting idea!
Love this pie for summer!