Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Tons of deep chocolate flavor without any cloying artificial sweetness like the pre-made frozen silk pies from the store.
Texture: The filling is so rich, creamy, and decadent and pairs perfectly with the slightly crunchy crust and ultra-light whipped cream.
Ease: This recipe does make a bit of a mess, but the good news is that it’s made ahead of time so it’s perfect for entertaining or bringing to a party.
Pros: A classic recipe without any raw eggs that your family will request for every holiday.
Cons: A bit involved and messy to make, but one bite of the final pie will convince you it was all worth it.
Would I make this again? Every Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, and Christmas!
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Growing up, it wasn’t a holiday without a French Silk Pie with those chocolate curls on top.
You see, I come from a long line of chocoholics. My dad and my grandma love chocolate and sweets just as much as I do.
However neither of them bake, so we always got those frozen silk pies from the grocery store.
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A few years ago, I decided to finally make a chocolate French silk pie from scratch for Thanksgiving and it was the most popular pie of the evening! So I knew I had to share the recipe with you ASAP.
It’s now a yearly tradition. No Thanksgiving is complete without this pie, my decadent Caramel Apple Streusel Pie, and my creamy No Bake Pumpkin Mousse Pie.
This silk pie is perfect for Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, Christmas, or any special occasion! I hope it becomes a tradition in your home as well!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make French Silk Pie
The Pie Crust
I love an Oreo crust for this recipe! It’s so much easier than traditional pie dough and adds an extra dose of chocolate! Use regular-stuff Oreos with the filling intact.
If you’d prefer to use a pastry crust, check out my Best Ever Pie Crust recipe here and follow the directions for pre-baking.
French Silk Pie Filling
Since this recipe doesn’t use raw eggs, it’s safe to serve to everyone.
However, there are a few extra steps and bowls you will dirty while making this recipe – but it’s so worth it. I highly recommend reading the recipe through completely before you get started. You’ll need an electric mixer (handheld or stand) and an instant-read thermometer for best results.
What Type of Chocolate Will I Need?
I love using bittersweet chocolate in this French Silk Pie recipe. It brings an intensely rich chocolate flavor. Use high-quality chocolate baking bars, not chocolate chips, for best results. If you’d prefer something more mild, feel free to use semisweet chocolate instead (1:1 ratio). Learn more about Chocolate in Baking here.
Whipped Cream Topping for French Silk Pie
- Be sure to top the pie with the whipped cream no more than a few hours before serving, so it looks its best.
- The whipped cream will begin to deflate and weep if topped too far in advance.
- Garnish with chocolate curls (see just below) or a sprinkling of cocoa powder for a pretty presentation.
How to Make Chocolate Curls
Taking the time to make chocolate curls, instead of just shaving a block of chocolate or garnishing with a dusting of cocoa powder, really makes this French Silk Pie look gourmet. Here’s a super helpful step-by-step video on how to make chocolate curls.
What Type of Pie Pan Should I Use?
- This recipe was designed for a 9-inch deep dish pie plate, like this one.
- If you don’t have a deep-dish pie pan, you may have some filling leftover (hellooo, little snack for you!)
- Because this pie doesn’t go in the oven for long (just a few minutes for the crust to set), the pie pan material doesn’t matter as much as it would for a baked pie. If you choose instead to make a pastry pie crust, however, I recommend checking out my Best Pie Pan article for more information and tips.
Can I Make French Silk Pie Ahead of Time?
Yes! This pie actually needs to be chilled for 6 hours before serving, so it’s the perfect make-ahead dessert! You can make it up to 2 days ahead of time. Keep covered in the fridge, then top with whipped cream shortly before serving.
Can I Freeze French Silk Pie?
We haven’t tested freezing this French Silk pie, but some of our wonderful readers have done so with success. Just note that freezing may slightly alter the texture after thawing. Place inside an airtight container and freeze for up to one month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before adding whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and serving.
More Recipes You’ll Love:
French Silk Pie
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Ingredients
For the crust
- 20 Oreo (230 grams) cookies (regular-stuffed, keep filling intact)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the filling
- 1 1/3 cups (266 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 8 ounces (227 grams) bittersweet baking chocolate, melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 10 tablespoons (142 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/3 cups heavy cream, cold
- 4 teaspoons powdered sugar
For the topping
- 1 cup heavy cream, cold
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Chocolate shavings or cocoa powder, for garnish if desired
Instructions
Make the crust:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch deep pie dish with cooking spray.
- Place the Oreo cookies in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add in the melted butter and pulse until moistened. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pie dish. Bake for 10 minutes, or until fragrant and set. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
Make the filling:
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the granulated sugar and eggs. Set over medium-low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture reaches 160°F and coats the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the melted chocolate and vanilla until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature (around 75°F), stirring occasionally.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Gradually add in the cooled chocolate mixture then beat on high speed for 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- In a separate clean bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream until it begins to thicken. Add the powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold into the chocolate mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the pan, smoothing evenly. The pie will be tall with filling. Chill for 6 hours. At this point, the pie can be stored for up to 2 days ahead of time.
Make the topping:
- Use an electric mixer to beat the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla on high speed until stiff peaks form. Top pie with whipped cream and garnish with chocolate shavings or dust with cocoa powder.
Recipe Notes
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This post was published in 2019 and has been updated with additional recipe tips. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
This was hands down the best pie I have ever made! I’m so glad I made it for Thanksgiving-my family loved it too. I did use 1/2 semi sweet and 1/2 bittersweet. Thank you for sharing such a great recipe and great instructions to make it! Will be making this pie for years to come.
Nice recipe, but personally too sweet for my taste. No problem can use less sugar, but my only problem was that it was more like pudding and not whipped enough. Not sure what I did wrong, but I feel like if I find out how to fix my personal problem with the pie, it would be 5 stars. Any tips to make it more whipped, and less like pudding
Hi Shannon! If you’re using a bittersweet or even unsweetened chocolate, the final result shouldn’t be too sweet at all. It’s possible the lowered sugar in your mixture prevented the mixture from setting (sugar does so much more than sweeten in baking – learn more about that here!) Issues can also arise if the sugar/egg/chocolate mixture wasn’t cooled enough when added to the whipped butter, as the butter can melt and lose the air we just whipped into it. Also, if your whipped cream doesn’t fully reach stiff peaks the mixture won’t be thick enough. Lastly, if the pie hasn’t had the full 6+ hours to set in the fridge, it won’t seem thick enough, so be sure to make this pie well ahead (the night before serving is best) to assist with this. I hope something here helped, Shannon! If not, feel free to reach back out and we can continue to troubleshoot together 🙂
I never comment on recipes but had to come back to say that this was totally the star of the show at our Thanksgiving dinner today! Super light and fluffy but also rich and decadent. I ended up using double-stuffed Oreos (well, Aldi knockoffs. They didn’t have regular-stuff). I freaked out a little when I took my crust out of the oven and the sides kind of slid down into the middle, I think because of the extra Oreo creme filling. I pushed them back up with a spoon and it ended up holding up really well when cooled. Unfortunately I couldn’t get my chocolate garnish to curl like in the video. No matter what I tried the chocolate would just break into chunks instead of bending, so my pie ended up with chocolate shards as garnish. Maybe I didn’t microwave my chocolate chips long enough? Still turned out excellent and will 100% be making this again.
Thank you for posting this! This is my third time making a French Silk. I keep trying to find the perfect recipe- and this is it for sure! No more looking 🙂
This is amazing! Actually fun to will be my French Silk Pie recipe from now on. I made it in a springform pan. Looks amazing.
Oh I’m so bummed. This came out beautifully and I was so excited to bring it over to the Thanksgiving party tomorrow, but I thought I should taste it first and when I tasted it and it was basically chocolate frosting from a can. It’s soooo sweet. And I for one like sweet, but this is too much. I used bittersweet baking chocolate like the recipe said, so I thought that would cut the sweetness from all that sugar but sadly it didn’t. I really hate to leave a bad review, but I thought if someone doesn’t like things too sweet, maybe my comment might save their dessert by encouraging them to cut back on the sugar or try a different chocolate.
Hi Terra! I’m sorry to hear that you found this pie too sweet. Bittersweet chocolates are not all made equal, so if you ever give this pie another try, I highly recommend using Ghirardelli’s 60% or 72%, or even their unsweetened chocolate, to balance out the sweetness more to your liking! I hope that helps 🙂
I cannot find how to make the chocolate mixture but the rest of the filling instructions are there!
Hi Marlee! That’s super strange! Are you missing a step? The chocolate gets added to the heated egg/sugar mixture. Maybe your browser isn’t working properly? Try clearing your cache, or try using a different browser. Otherwise, you can try using the printable version of the recipe (by clicking the little printer icon at the top of the page). Hope that solves the issue for you!
Thank you so much! I made it and it is delicious! (I tried the filling) I can’t wait to try the whole thing during Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
OMGSH, this is the BEST thing I have ever tasted! I appreciate not having to deal with raw eggs since I don’t usually buy the pasteurized ones. YUMMM
Yay! So thrilled to hear you enjoyed this so much, Lori!
The BEST dessert ever. I’m not a huge dessert person and I don’t bake. I did however find this recipe super easy to follow and am very impressed with the results! I actually beat the heavy cream for the filling until it was almost stiff and that resulted in a raised pie with perfect texture. Love this!
Yay! So happy to hear that 🙂
How does this recipes do when doubled?
Hi Brandi! We haven’t tried that, and I don’t know of a pie pan large enough to hold that much filling! If you’re planning on using a 9×13-inch pan or something similar, I believe that would work fine to be doubled – just be sure to triple-check all your measurements, so you don’t forget to double something. Let us know how it goes 🙂
I just made this and doubled the recipe so I could make 2. It worked just perfect!
I don’t have a food thermometer. Approx. how long do I cook the sugar, egg mixture over med.low heat?
Thank you!!!
Hi Vicki! It’s definitely not easy to achieve perfect results without an instant-read thermometer, but when the mixture thickens and coats the back of a metal spoon, it should hopefully be okay. I definitely recommend purchasing a digital instant-read thermometer (this one is available on Amazon, but you can get them in the supermarket or Walmart/Target, too!), to guarantee perfect results. Good luck!
Sorry for the duplicate question. I didn’t see your response and thought my post didn’t go thru!
I’ll let you know how my pie turns out.
Please do 🙂 Good luck!!
Since I didn’t have a thermometer, I cooked the eggs/sugar mixture for about 6 minutes and hoped for the best. Pie turned out AMAZING! My husband says it’s now his favorite dessert!
Yay!! So thrilled to hear this, Vicki!!
I don’t suppose you have a candy thermometer do you?
Very excited to try this!
Will it work with a graham cracker crust?
Hi Jen! We haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why not! Let us know how it goes 🙂