Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie

It’s one of the best days of March…of the year, really. It’s Pi Day! Oh yeah, oh yeah. Choosing a perfect dessert to celebrate the occasion is a task that should be fun but ends up being way too involved. As usual, I overthought it. I had a list of possibilities jostling around my mind, but when I listed them for Ben he just laughed and said, “Really? Cookie dough, obviously!” He’s a smart man.

I used components from recipes I already know and love and converted them to a pie form. The “crust” is really just a big chocolate chip cookie. The pie “filling” is the same eggless cookie dough featured in the ever popular cookie dough cupcakes and cookie dough truffles. I topped this of with a bit of whipped cream for a sort of “cookies and milk” flavor, but of course a big glass of milk is still required. This pie is pretty rich so a small slice will do just fine, which your friends will appreciate – more to share with others!

(As always, a big shout out to my amazing high school calculus teacher Mr. Strawn who made all things pi, calculus, and math in general far more fun and understandable than ever before or ever again.)

Yield about 8-10 servings

Ingredients

For the “crust”:*

2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the filling:

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
Pinch of salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

To finish:

¾ cup heavy cream
3 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
Chocolate syrup
Small chocolate chip cookies

Directions

01
Adjust oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions. Preheat oven 375°. Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside. With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
02
Press a portion of the cookie dough in an even layer to form a crust in a 9-inch pie plate.* Transfer to the preheated oven and bake 5-8 minutes, until slightly puffed. Cover the cookie with a piece of foil or parchment and fill the pie plate with baking beads (dried beans or rice will also work.) Continue baking, rotating once during the process, until the cookie is browned and mostly baked through, about 25-30 minutes (depending on the thickness of the cookie). Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
03
To make the filling, combine the butter, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Transfer to the cooled pie “crust” and fill, pressing down or spreading in an even layer.
04
To finish, combine the heavy cream and confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Whisk or beat on medium-high until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a pastry bag and pipe swirls on top of the pie. Drizzle with chocolate syrup and top with small chocolate chip cookies for garnish, if desired. Chill until ready to serve.
05
*This recipe makes more dough than you will need for the “crust”. The dough freezes extremely well, and the cookies can be baked directly from the freezer as in the original instructions with a few minutes added on to the baking time. If you’re already making the dough for the crust, you might as well stock the freezer at the same time!

Source

filling adapted from Taste of Home via Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, cookie adapted from Baking Illustrated