• Active Time: 1 hour
• Total Time: 5 hours 30 minutes

Recipe Ingredients

• Chocolate Crust
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
• Yolk from 1 large egg mixed with 1 1/2 Tbsp water and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Mocha Latte filling
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp instant espresso powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 1/4 cups whole milk
• Yolks from 3 large eggs lightly beaten in a small bowl with 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• Topping & decorations
• Sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping
• Chocolate curls (directions follow)
• Candy hearts (directions follow)

Recipe Preparation

1. Crust: Pulse flour, sugar, cocoa and salt in a food processor until blended. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few flecks of butter visible. Pour yolk mixture evenly over top; pulse until flour mixture starts to clump together. Gather dough; form into a ball. Flatten into a 6 1/2-in. disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 hour.

2. Coat a 9-in. pie plate with nonstick spray. Lightly flour disk and rolling pin. Roll dough on a sheet of wax paper into a 12 1/2-in. circle. Trim to 12 in.; discard trimmings. Place a floured hand on dough, invert (still on wax paper) onto hand and position dough over pie plate. Gently ease into plate, pressing dough against bottom and sides; carefully peel off paper. Fold edge under so it’s slightly higher than side of plate; crimp edge. Freeze 15 minutes until firm.

3. Heat oven to 350°F. Prick bottom of crust all over with a fork. Line with nonstick foil, then fill with pie weights or dried beans (see Note). Bake 20 minutes. Carefully lift out foil and weights and bake 15 minutes more, or until crust is cooked through and set. Cool completely on a wire rack.

4. Filling: In a heavy 3-qt saucepan, using a whisk, stir sugar, cornstarch, espresso powder and salt until combined. Whisk in milk until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with whisk, about 18 minutes until thickened and boiling; boil, stirring, 1 minute. Remove from heat; whisk about 1 cup hot mixture into yolk mixture until blended. Slowly scrape yolk mixture into hot mixture, stirring to prevent curdling. Stir over low heat about 3 minutes until very thick. Remove from heat; add chocolate and butter; stir until completely melted. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve set over a 1-qt measure or bowl. Scrape hot filling into crust; smooth top with a spatula. Press plastic wrap directly on surface. Refrigerate about 4 hours until cold and set, or up to 2 days.

5. To serve: Mound whipped cream on pie, leaving a border of filling visible. Top cream with chocolate curls and candy hearts. Add a candy heart or 2 to each serving.Candy hearts:Melt 1/3 cup pink candy melts* as pkg directs. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a writing tip, or to a small ziptop bag, and snip tip off 1 corner. Pipe small hearts on a wax paper–lined baking sheet. Let set at room temperature, or refrigerate until hard. Remove with a metal spatula. Store at roomtemperature.*Available where cake decorating supplies are sold.

Note: Pie weights, which are specially designed to prevent pastry shells from shrinking and puffing, are available in bakeware stores. Dried beans serve the same purpose and can be used over again endlessly.Chocolate Curls Have ready a foil-lined mini loaf pan or sturdy 3 1/2 x 2 x 1 1/2-in. pan made with layers of foil. Melt 4 oz semisweet baking chocolate with 1 tsp solid vegetable shortening. Pour into pan. Let set at room temperature. Pull a swivel-blade vegetable peeler down length of bar. Refrigerate curls until ready to use.