A few weeks ago we had dinner with old friends. Rosie is an excellent cook and she served the "recipe of the year" from the January 2008 Bon Appétit magazine -Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding Pie with Crème Fraîche Topping. It was delicious and I was anxious to try it myself. Rosie insisted it was really easy and she had made it exactly according to the directions (i.e., no substitutions or shortcuts).
After getting a small bank loan to obtain the ingredients, I set about my task. There was a crust to prepare (with ground chocolate wafers, butter and sugar), then a layer of melted chocolate over the crumb crust. Next, the filling (a pudding made with sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, salt, whole milk, heavy cream, 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate, rum and vanilla) is poured into the crust and chilled overnight. Before serving a mixture of crème fraîche, whipped cream and a little sugar is smeared decoratively over the top with a few chocolate shavings for panache.
No problem.
Well, there were a few. The crust went together fine, but trying to cover the hot crust with the melted chocolate was a messy process. I realized it didn't have to look THAT good because it would all be covered up with pudding and whipped cream, but I did my best. The pudding went together well, though it did take longer than the five minutes suggested in the recipe for the mixture to thicken.

