Double Chocolate Pudding Pie

In the blogging world there are groups of bloggers that join together and bake/cook the same recipe once a week and then blog about it. Two that I love to follow are primarily baking oriented (Tuesdays With Dorie and Daring Bakers)...every week all of the blogging members bake some incredibly fabulous creation, take mouth-watering pictures, and post them on their blog. And while I am totally tempted to take part (I love to bake), I really don't want a high calorie treat

hanging around my kitchen on a weekly basis!

So when I found a group cooking from Ellie Krieger's "The Food You Crave", a cookbook I have and love, I joined immediately! If you don't already know, Ellie is the FoodNetwork dietitian. She promotes eating REAL food in moderation...my view of eating exactly!

This is my first week participating in CEiMB. I'll be posting a recipe (chosen weekly by a different CEiMB member) every Wednesday. A preview of what's to come:

June 18th - Jambalaya with Shrimp and Ham

June 25th - Vegetable Cheese Strata

July 2nd - Breakfast Cookies

This week the recipe, chosen by Handle the Heat, is Double Chocolate Pudding Pie. How ironic is it that the first recipe I have to make is a "treat"??? That's the whole reason I haven't joined the other groups! Oh well! All things in moderation right?

And to reassure you this is a "lighter" version I analyzed Emeril's Chocolate Cream Pie...ready for this? Per serving (Serves 8) - 739 calories, 52 g fat (30 g saturated), 242 mg cholesterol, 64 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 51 g sugar 6 g protein...Ellie you win!

Double Chocolate Pudding Pie -

• Per serving - 306 calories, 17 g fat (9.2 g saturated), 37 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 7 g protein (exchanges: 3 fats, 2 starches)
• Notes - I left off the whipped cream...not so much because I was trying to save calories (it only saves about 25 calories per serving), but more so because I didn't want to buy a pint of cream only to use 1/4 cup; the pudding itself is really good, so if you don't feel like making the crust, just serve the pudding...you save about 85 calories per serving by doing so; I like darker chocolate, but if you are a milk chocolate lover you might want to use it instead of the bittersweet called for; some of the recipe reviews complained that there wasn't enough crust to fill the bottom and sides of the pie plate, so I used an 8 inch dish (instead of making extra crust as some suggested which would increase the calorie count) and poured the extra pudding into ramekins for a crustless version...so my version actually has fewer calories per serving; the consistency of the pudding is very JELL-O like...maybe use a little less gelatin?
  
  
• Tips - When pressing the crust into the pie plate, I used the bottom of a dry measuring cup; I sifted the dry ingredients into the sauce pan before adding the milk to help avoid any lumps; when whisking the milk into the dry pudding ingredients, it will look like the mixture will never come together, but keep whisking...it will!; I had to cook the pudding a little longer than 10 minutes to get it to thicken/boil; don't worry if your gelatin "hardens" (like JELL-O) , it will re-soften when you add it to the hot pudding mixture
• My Thoughts - The pie is good...not great - the texture kind of ruins it for me, but Hil said that's what she likes about it (Danielle, you prob would like it too...jello texture!). Honestly, I would rather have a full-fat, real-deal dessert and not have it as often. I may have to Emeril's a try!!!