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.
Wonderful recipe. My first time making a French silk pie and it turned out perfect. Thank you for the great recipe.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!! I have made French silk pies in the past using raw eggs and didn’t really feel comfortable with this. This was fantastic!!! I also used the Oreo crust and it brought the pie to a whole new level of deliciousness!
My neighbor said this was the best pie she ever ate. It was sooooo delicious!!! I did add a pinch of salt to the filling. I also sprinkled some crumbs from some coffee toffee I previously made on top.
Do you serve this right from the fridge or does it need to warm up a little?
Either way is fine, Jane! 🙂
Excellent pie!
Made it once for Thanksgiving and now for Christmas. My family loved it and I will be making it for many occasions in the future.
Merry Christmas! Daniela
Awesome!!!!!!
I am thankful! I found this recipe to help my first ”French Silk” pie be a success. A plus+ everyone said it was delicious!!
I gave it 4 stars because the prep time & cook times were a bit off. Overall the prep time took longer to make than anticipated. I recommended
So delicious! I followed the recipe exactly and the pie turned out amazing! The amount of chocolate was perfect for anyone that’s a chocolate lover. I held off making the whipped topping until an hour before we were going to eat it and that was fine. It is a bit messy as you have a number of bowls to clean up afterward, but that’s a minor issue. Definitely a winner!
Decided to bake up this amazing Silk Pie for Christmas Eve! It set up beautiful! Can’t wait to share it
can i use heavy wipping cream instead of heavy cream?
Yes, they are basically the same thing 🙂
I made this pie and it looked great when I took it out of the fridge. For some reason the filling did not set even though it was refrigerated for almost 20 hours 🙁
Luckily people thought it was a chocolate dip with how liquid it was and nobody complained but I can’t figure out why I wouldn’t become stiff.
Hi Emilia! Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that your pie didn’t set up properly. Did you use a digital instant-read thermometer when cooking the egg/sugar mixture? It can be difficult to tell if the mixture reached the correct temperature without a thermometer, unfortunately. 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. I hope something here helped! If not, feel free to reach back out and we can continue to troubleshoot together 🙂
All of those ideas are helpful, and I appreciate you taking the time to give me these tips! I am no expert at making pies and had never made a French Silk pie before. I kept scratching my head trying to figure out what went wrong and that maybe I was supposed to freeze the pie instead.
I will try again with your suggestions in the coming weeks and hopefully have better success :).
No problem at all, Emilia! Good luck with Round 2 🙂
BOOKMARKED! I made this recipe for a potluck and it was a BIG HIT!!! I made a few modifications: I used 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks, used an electric hand mixer and, in a double boiler, beat the eggs and sugar on high until fluffy and eggs coated the back of a spoon, added the vanilla while mixer is still going, slowly added in melted chocolate while mixer is still going on low now (also melted in another double boiler). After that was all mixed together, I removed it from the heat. Then I mixed the room temperature butter with the same hand mixer on low until fluffy and with the mixer still going I added in the chocolate egg mixture to the butter. After that was finished I mixed up the heavy cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks formed with the hand mixer on high. After the chocolate stuff had cooled some, I placed the hand mixer back into the chocolate and, while on low speed, I added in the whipped cream until it was all homogenized. I filled the pie crust and placed in the refrigerator. I had enough left over filling to make 2 pies, so I took the left over filling and made mini pies that I froze and ate frozen. It was delicious – had the texture of frozen custard! This week I am going to try this same recipe but with white chocolate peppermint bark for a holiday party!