Sweet & Salty Truffle Pie

Name: Sweet & Salty Truffle Pie
Prep time: 1 h 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 8 servings (24 truffles).
Ingredients: 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 3/4 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup shortening; 3 tablespoons cold water; 1-1/2 teaspoons white vinegar; TRUFFLES:; 2 cups (12 ounces) dark chocolate chips, divided; 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream; 1/2 cup crushed pretzels; 1 tablespoon shortening; 2 teaspoons coarse sugar; 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; FILLING:; 1-1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided; 1-1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided; 1/4 cup sugar; 2 large egg yolks; 1/4 cup butter, softened; 2 tablespoons vanilla extract; TOPPINGS:; 1 cup heavy whipping cream; 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; Broken pretzels, optional

Homemade truffles—a little bit sweet and a little bit salty—will keep you coming back for more. Store extra truffles in the fridge.—Shirley Warren, Thiensville, Wisconsin

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
3 tablespoons cold water
1-1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
TRUFFLES:
2 cups (12 ounces) dark chocolate chips, divided
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup crushed pretzels
1 tablespoon shortening
2 teaspoons coarse sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
FILLING:
1-1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1-1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
1/4 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
TOPPINGS:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Broken pretzels, optional

Directions

In a small bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in the shortening until crumbly. Combine water and vinegar; gradually add to flour mixture, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.
Roll out pastry to fit a 9-in. pie plate. Transfer pastry to pie plate. Trim pastry to 1/2 in. beyond edge of plate; flute edges. Line unpricked pastry with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Fill with dried beans, uncooked rice or pie weights.
Bake at 450° for 8 minutes. Remove foil and weights; bake 5-7 minutes longer or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
For truffles, melt 1 cup dark chocolate chips in a microwave; stir until smooth. Gradually stir in cream until blended. Add crushed pretzels. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate until firm. Divide into 24 portions; shape into balls.
In a microwave, melt shortening and remaining dark chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Combine coarse sugar and kosher salt. Dip truffles in chocolate mixture; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper; sprinkle with sugar mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set.
For filling, place 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring 1/4 cup cream just to a boil. Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth. Pour into crust. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until set.
Meanwhile, in a small heavy saucepan, cook and stir sugar and the remaining chocolate chips and cream over medium heat until smooth. Whisk a small amount of hot mixture into the egg yolks. Return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160°.
Pour into a large bowl; stir in butter and vanilla. Place bowl in an ice-water bath, stirring frequently until cooled. Remove bowl from ice water. Beat mixture until stiff peaks form. Spread into crust; chill completely.
For topping, in a small bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla; beat until soft peaks form. Spoon over filling. Garnish with truffles and broken pretzels if desired. Serve with any remaining truffles.

Nutrition Facts

1 piece with 3 truffles: 1059 calories, 78g fat (42g saturated fat), 172mg cholesterol, 496mg sodium, 88g carbohydrate (54g sugars, 2g fiber), 10g protein.

Originally published as Sweet n'Salty Chocoalty Caramel Truffle pie!!!! in Taste of Home November 2011

Reviews

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Average Rating:

Fiberpainter

Feb 3, 2015

I was given this recipe to make for the neighborhood Night After Thanksgiving dinner (no turkey allowed). Good thing I looked at it first, as it seemed complicated, made it over 2 days, truffles first. It was very much worth the effort, full as everyone was, this pie was gone in minutes. Sadly, neither our hostess nor I got any, so I made it again for Christmas Eve dinner with a few tweaks. I chopped the truffles and added them to the pie after cutting it into very small wedges (no way the 8 year old was gonna waste a big hunk this time). I subbed a TBS of bourbon for vanilla in the filling. And for the truffles, I added 3 cloves of mashed roasted garlic. Yup, you read that correctly, garlic. It was a hit the first time, and served to the same people again it was deemed even better, no one could say why. Hubby was threatened with no Christmas gifts if he revealed the garlic secret until AFTER everyone had eaten. I make this pie every year for Christmas Eve and everyone wants a garlic truffle. Roasted garlic and dark chocolate pair amazingly well, sweet and nutty.
AngieSueWilliams

Dec 12, 2014

Are you kidding??? 1,059 calories per serving?...WOW !!!..No thanks!
Bearly4194

Nov 25, 2012

This has become a family favorite
powellcou

May 1, 2012

Very good, but very rich. I could only handle a small piece of this pie at a time. The truffles on top were delicious. It took A LOT of time to make, but I would make it again for a special occasion.
CindyCRNA

Feb 24, 2012

I did not make the truffles and I increased the filling by 50% to make the chocolate portion nice and thick. Came out perfect!
kristinscotth

Nov 27, 2011

This pie was very good! I have four little boys who are very picky eaters, but a chocolate pie is always a safe bet, and they loved it. I had two problems with this recipe. The first was with the crust. I usually use my standard crust recipe any time I make a pie, but I was interested in seeing how the addition of white vinegar would be in a crust, so I wanted to try it. I don't know if it had anything to do with the vinegar, or if I should've cleaned off my pastry board better and re-sprayed and re-floured it (since I had already rolled out a crust for a different pie), but when I was rolling the crust over my rolling pin (to transfer it to the pie dish), it was tearing all over the place, and I've made lots of pie crusts, so I'm not a beginner at this. I decided to just toss it, and make a different crust instead. The second problem I had was during the truffle-making process. The recipe said to melt 1 cup of the dark chocolate chips, and then to "gradually stir in cream until blended." My gut told me NOT to do it this way, because I knew adding a cold liquid to chocolate would make it seize up, but I always like following recipes to a T, and I thought maybe adding it gradually would not make it seize up. It did. I saved it by warming it up a little in the microwave and stirring until smooth. However, for next time, I will either bring the cream to a boil and pour that over the chips and stir until smooth OR just put the chips and cream together in the microwave. I would not recommend following the recipe in this instance. Also for the truffles, I would recommend sticking a toothpick in each ball before dipping. It makes dipping them in the chocolate easier. Hold onto the toothpick, dip the ball in chocolate, immediately dip it into the salt/sugar mixture, and then stick the toothpick in a piece of styrofoam. This helps the truffle to not have a flat bottom or having chocolate pooling at the bottom. It does have a small hole, once you pull out the toothpick, but I think that's better than a flat bottom... if you care about having a nice round truffle anyway. The whipped chocolate layer had a mousse-like texture, in case you're curious to know what that was like. I stabilized my whipped cream as well before spreading it onto the pie, which I always like doing. I loved the addition of the crushed up pretzels to garnish with. The whole texture of the pie is soft, so a contrasting crunchiness was really nice. One of my sisters suggested dipping pretzels in chocolate and garnishing with those, which I thought was a good idea for next time. I thought the truffles were good, and loved the sweet and saltiness of it, but I was disappointed that the pretzels didn't stay crunchy inside the truffle. I would've liked a crunchy texture inside to have some contrast. Overall, this pie was really good, and not difficult to make. The most time-consuming part was making the truffles, but I made the truffles a few days in advance to help break up how long it would take.
juicyfruit007

Nov 24, 2011

Verrry rich. Verrry time-consuming. I probably won't make it again because I don't really have the time, not because it wasn't good.
ladwright

Nov 22, 2011

I have only made the truffle portion of this recipe so far. They are GREAT! Very nice balance of sweet and salty.