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Baking and SweetsBirthdays, Holidays, CelebrationsThanksgiving

Now Accepting Applications

By November 18, 2011October 30th, 201740 Comments

Proposed Chocolate Pudding Pie (From Scratch)*

Preheat oven to 350ยฐF. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process 2 packages honey graham crackers (total: 2 1/4 cups) until they resemble fine crumbs. Add 5 tablespoons sugar and 10 tablespoons melted butter (unsalted) and pulse to combine. Using your fingers, press the mixture into a 9-inch pie dish. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool. Make this chocolate pudding, then pour into prepared crust. Chill for at least 3 hours (and up to 24) and top with freshly whipped cream.

40 Comments

  • Avatar Andrea says:

    This is so funny. But perhaps sadly I can totally relate to the one who wrote the questionnaire. I am always wary of people bringing โ€œnewfangledโ€ things to my Thanksgiving table. I like Thanksgiving one way and that is the way Iโ€™ve been having it my whole life!

  • Avatar Vanessa says:

    This is fantastic! I am expecting some similar reactions when I make some changes to the pumpkin pie this year. Gave me a giggle thinking about it. ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Melissa@HomeBaked says:

    Sadly, Iโ€™m one of those people who laments the lack of plain pumpkin pie whenever people get creative with the pumpkin cheesecakes and the pumpkin bread puddings. However, I love a good chocolate cream pie, and save it for Christmas, when our family is more flexible about the menu. Love the one from Gourmet, Feb. 2004 (only I use a regular pie crust, because thatโ€™s what we like). The pudding is to die for, and (shhhhh) beats Grandmaโ€™s Jello pudding pie hands down.

  • Avatar Emilee says:

    This is so cute and awesome. My mom and I always do a non-traditional dish or two on Thanksgiving, and it proves to be a risky maneuver every year (to say the least). This year I am changing up the yams and making my favorite smoked scalloped sweet potatoes that I found a few months ago, and it has yet to do anything but WOW the people we have made it for!
    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/smoked-chile-scalloped-sweet-potatoes-recipe/index.html โ€ฆ. I will let you know how it goes ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Avatar Amanda says:

    This sounds so good! In our family we always have two desserts โ€“ one traditional pumpkin pie and one chocolate concoction. I am not a pumpkin pie lover and a cousin in the family is not a chocolate lover (seriously?), so everyone wins.

    Normally I fear change in life in general. But at Thanksgiving I welcome it, I love it when people get crazy with the side dishes.

  • Avatar Mary says:

    I love the application form. As one of 6 kids in an ever growing family we need something like this :). We have wars over the amount of butter in the mashed potatoes. Is there a governing body for Thanksgiving?

  • Avatar Amanda says:

    I have never posted before โ€“ even after Iโ€™ve made many of your dishes to rave reviews from my family (including beef/broccoli stir fry last night.) But chocolate cream pie has driven me to it.

    Farmstead in St. Helena, CA has taken the classic chocolate cream pie to another level with an easily adaptable technique. They add a layer of melted, hardened chocolate between a flakey graham cracker crust and the chocolate mousse/pudding. That one simple step makes for a truly outrageous pie. I have been dying to try it.

    Since my mother doesnโ€™t accept any applications for new recipes at all, I always make a follow-up Thanksgiving dinner in early December. We invite a few friends over and have a turkey meal, take two โ€“ using all of the recipes that I want to try. Its a win win.

  • Avatar Kim says:

    HILARIOUS!

  • Avatar Bettylou says:

    This just made me โ€œsnort laughโ€ quite loudly. We were actually talking this very morning about this issue! Our family is beyond obsessive about the dishes that are shared for our annual holiday meals and any change to the well versed menu is met with fierce resistance. Think pitchforks and flaming torches! If we ever show up with something that is not immediately recognized as the standard fare, we are met with heavy glares of distain and contempt. This year, just for fun, I will print your post and put it on the Thanksgiving banquet table right next to the new dish of roasted brussel sprouts, grapes, and walnuts that I will be smuggling in UNDER the pumpkin cheesecake. lol Blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours!

  • Avatar oilandgarlic says:

    This is so funny! Our thanksgivings are not very traditional but I love this questionnaire!

  • Avatar Hannah says:

    My husband hates the usual pies, so Iโ€™ve made this chocolate cream pie for the last few years. It is really amazing: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Cream-Pie-109139 (oh, I see someone above also makes it)

    My family was skeptical at first but now we all like it.

  • A Plum By Any Other Name says:

    This is one of the best food blog posts Iโ€™ve read in a very, very long time! In fact, it could sum up family holidays in one sentence: โ€œmom. itโ€™s not about you. itโ€™s about pie.โ€

  • Rachel says:

    Can you post a pdf or word doc of this? I need to adapt it to our family.

  • Beth Cregan says:

    Great post โ€“ it made me laugh out loud! In Australia we have taken to Halloween but sadly Thanksgiving goes almost unnoticed! time to change that! I no longer have my mum alive which makes me love this even more. May we long celebrate mothers and their ability to pull together a family celebration!

  • Avatar Kendra says:

    Ha! Love it. Looks delicious too.

  • Avatar Debbie Koenig says:

    Love.this.post.

  • Avatar hallie says:

    waitta minute. WHAM! isnโ€™t still popular?

  • Avatar Cecilia Madden says:

    Hilarious. this is pretty much how my โ€œplanningโ€ discussion on my husbandโ€™s thanksgiving menu went.

    Pie looks yummy too ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Avatar Caitlin says:

    Hysterical! I laughed out loud at-โ€œdoes it possess any trait that might be described as odd or creativeโ€ because that is exactly why I have been making the same apple pie and deviled eggs for the past decade when I really just want to break out something different! I think I need this application for my grandmother.

  • Torrie @ a place to share... says:

    PURE GENIUS. (I couldnโ€™t resist sharing it on my blog, as it is incredibly, *incredibly relevant =)).

  • Leone says:

    BRAVA! God I love this blog.

  • Avatar Jen says:

    This is hilarious! But itโ€™s nice that your mom can sort of laugh at herself for resisting change. My MIL is just like that except for the laughing part โ€“ itโ€™s more of a passive-agressive insistence on keeping things just as they are, and any new additions or changes to the traditions are met with deafening silence. We just fill in the laughter for her afterwards ๐Ÿ˜‰

  • Avatar bridgit says:

    โ€œFor the kidsโ€ is code for, โ€œfor the grownups while watching the latest episode of Bones once the kids are in bed,โ€ right?

  • Elizabeth says:

    Fantastic.

    And have I ever told you how many compliments I get for my bumper sticker (Make Dinner Not War) here in Los Angeles? At least five times a day!

  • Avatar Leslie says:

    LOVE it! My turn to host TG this year and I was terrified to tell my extended family that I was banishing all those bland root vegetable purees and mashes (except mashed potatoes โ€“ Iโ€™m not a heathen!) and the onions in cream sauce for a large pan of roasted root vegetables! However, they completely surprised me with their enthusiasm!! Now, it better turn out okayโ€ฆ.

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