The BEST French Silk Pie — This French silk pie is made with an Oreo cookie crust. The filling is a cross between chocolate mousse and chocolate cheesecake, and it’s so addicting!
Homemade French Silk Pie Recipe
I’ve wanted to make a French Silk Pie for ages but kept putting it off. I’m glad I finally made it because it turned out to be one of the best pies I’ve ever eaten.
I’m not really even a pie girl. In 5 years of blogging mostly about desserts, I have just a few pie recipes. But I have fond memories of being in high school and college and going to Baker’s Square for study sessions.
I’d plop down in a booth for hours with a pot of coffee, and midway through my study sessions the French silk pie in the bakery cases kept looking better and better. But I’ll never be satisfied with theirs after making this. If your only experience is with store-bought French silk pie, the difference between homemade and store-bought is beyond words. It’s one of those items that the difference is so huge you’ll hardly think it’s the same thing.
Rather than a traditional pie crust, I made an Oreo cookie crust. It adds to the overall chocolate intensity of the pie. The crunchy firmness of the crust is a perfect counterbalance to the silky, creamy, luscious filling.
The filling takes about 20 minutes to make because you add 4 eggs, one at a time, spaced 5 minutes apart. While the mixture was whipping, I organized some messy kitchen drawers that I otherwise would have kept putting off. I knew there was a reason I made this chocolate silk pie.
The filling is some of the best stuff I’ve ever tasted in my life. Not exaggerating. It’s not as light and airy as chocolate mousse but nowhere near as dense or heavy as chocolate cheesecake. It’s why the pie is called French silk. It’s silky smooth, rich, decadent, and truly incredible. Definitely worth 20 minutes of whipping.
The contrast of the silky filling, the crunchy cookie crust, fluffy and creamy whipped cream, and firm chopped chocolate create a wonderful array of textures and complementary flavors in each bite.
I shared this French silk chocolate pie with family, friends, and neighbors, and everyone who tried it said it was the best chocolate pie or French silk pie they’ve ever had. Family members told me that it’s in the top 5 desserts I’ve ever made, and I have 500+ recipes on my blog and 200 spanning two cookbooks.
If I could only choose one pie for the rest of my life, this is the one. I loved it that much.
French Silk Pie Ingredients
For this French silk chocolate pie, you’ll need:
- Oreo cookies
- Butter
- Dark chocolate
- Ultrafine sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Instant espresso granules (NOT ground coffee)
- Salt
- Eggs
- Whipped topping
How to Make French Silk Pie
Before you can start on the filling for this chocolate silk pie, you’ll need to make the Oreo cookie crust. To do so, pulse the Oreos in a food processor until they’re the texture of coarse sand. Then pour in the melted butter and continue pulsing until the mixture starts sticking together. Press the mixture into a pie plate and bake to set.
Next, you’ll need to make the filling. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (it’ll take about 5 minutes). Add the vanilla, espresso granules, salt, and melted chocolate and continue mixing to combine. Then, add in the eggs one at a time and beat for roughly 5 minutes after each addition. It’s crucial that you take the time to whip the pie filling, otherwise it won’t become silky and smooth.
Turn the mixture into the cooled Oreo cookie crust and refrigerate, covered, for 4 hours to set. Once the pie is fully set, top with whipped topping and garnish with chocolate shavings. Then find some neighbors to share this pie with, otherwise you’ll eat it all at once!
Can I Use Powdered Sugar Instead of Ultrafine?
No, powdered sugar (aka confectioner’s sugar) isn’t the right texture and will make your pie far too sweet.
What Type of Chocolate Should I Use?
You want to use a chocolate bar and not chocolate chips since they’re more resistant to melting. Use a bar that contains at least 72% cacao. If you use anything sweeter in this recipe, your French silk pie will wind up being way too sweet.
Tips for Making French Silk Pie
For the filling and for the chopped chocolate on top, I used Trader Joe’s 72% Pound Plus bar. Use a high quality dark chocolate to ensure the pie has enough depth of rich, chocolate flavor. A pinch of instant espresso granules brings out the chocolate intensity and doesn’t make the pie taste like coffee.
I highly recommend using ultrafine sugar, also called baker’s sugar and it’s sold near other sugars. It’s the sugar used on top of Creme Brulee. Using ultrafine sugar ensures it’ll fully integrate into the butter and chocolate. There’s a chance that granulated sugar won’t incorporate fully and the filling could be gritty.
The pie filling isn’t baked and the eggs are raw, which is what classic French silk pie is. If this isn’t a good choice for you or someone who may eat the pie, use pasteurized eggs, which are safe to eat raw. As a lifetime orange Julius drinker and cookie dough eater, I don’t have any issues.
And if a little bit of crust crumbles when you’re slicing the pie, just sprinkle it on top like you meant to do it. Being the world’s worst pancake-flipper and pie-slicer, this may have come in handy for me.
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The Best French Silk Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 20 Oreo cookies, finely crushed (I use chocolate-filled Oreos rather than white-filled, and regular rather than Double-Stuffed)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 6 ounces dark chocolate, at least 72%, melted (unsweetened baker’s chocolate may be substituted)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups ultrafine sugar, also called ultrafine or baker’s sugar (using granulated sugar could result in graininess; use at your discretion)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon instant espresso granules, optional but recommended
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
Topping
- 8 ounces whipped topping, thawed and stirred well, lite okay or 2 cups freshly whipped cream
- 3 to 4 ounces dark chocolate, 72% or higher roughly chopped, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Make the Crust
- Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 9-inch pie dish wish cooking spray; set aside.
- Add Oreos to the canister of a food processor and process until finely ground, 1 to 2 minutes on high power; set aside.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
- Add melted butter to canister of food processor and process until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
- Turn crumbs out into prepared pie dish and using your fingers, hard-pack the mixture to create a crust, making sure to cover sides of pie dish.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until just set. Place on a wire rack to cool.
- Make the Filling
- In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate, about 1 to 2 minutes on high power. Stop after 1 minute to check and stir. Heat in 15 second increments until chocolate can be stirred smooth; set aside to cool.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, sugar, and beat on high power until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping as necessary to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mixture should be very pale, almost white; the lighter and fluffier the better to ensure sugar is well on it’s way to being dissolved and incorporated fully.
- Add the vanilla, espresso granules, optional salt, cooled chocolate, and beat on high power until incorporated and mixture is fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, remove paddle attachment, switch to whisk attachment, add 1 egg, and beat for 5 minutes on high power.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the second egg, beat for 5 minutes on high power. Repeat process with remaining eggs. Eggs are added 1 at a time, spaced 5 minutes apart, for a total of 20 minutes active whipping time.
- After 20 minutes, make sure your mixture is smooth, silky, fluffy, with zero traces of graininess. Continue beating until you’re satisfied with the smoothness because this is what your pie will taste like.
- Turn mixture out into crust, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula. Cover with plasticwrap and place in fridge for at least 4 hours (overnight is better) for pie to set up fully.
- Add the ToppingAdd the whipped topping/cream, smoothing it lightly with a spatula. I left a bare margin of 1-inch for visual appeal so you can see the chocolate; cover surface fully if preferred.
- Sprinkle evenly with chopped chocolate before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I can’t wait to make this!! Can a regular Ghiradelli chocolate bar be used instead of a baking chocolate? I’ve gone to three stores and they’re all out of the baking chocolate….so, do you think a candy bar will work? (It’s Ghiradelli Intense Chocolate bar 72%..) Thanks so much for your help…and recipes. :)
I would say yes to a 72% or they have an 86% as well. Or maybe it’s 82? It’s called ‘Midnight’ Something I believe. You just don’t want something that’s already very sweet because you’re adding sugar and then the pie will be too sweet – and I wouldn’t start reducing the sugar either. It may not set up…one thing can lead to another. LMK how it goes!
How do the eggs get cooked?
They don’t.
Ugh. The most delicious crust ever. Probably because I’m a sucker for Oreos. And the filling…oh, the filling…
I made a trend of trying just about every chocolate pie recipe I could find because of how much my family likes them. This might be the best. Just…incredible. Wish I could be more descriptive than that.
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it came out great for you! And that it may be the best chocolate pie you’ve tried! Glad you and your family are loving it!
thanks so much for this recipe – my pie is cooling in the fridge right now. i haven’t experienced it other than tasting it before i put it in the pie shell but that was delicious.
i put about a tablespoon of instant coffee (not espresso) in and used half 90% cocoa dark chocolate and 76% cocoa espresso flavoured dark chocolate because i wanted it to have a more pronounced coffee flavour. it tastes like silky coffee crisp. so for anyone whose into that sort of thing… try it, it’s amazing.
i’m going to put a bit of baileys in the whipping cream as well.
thanks again!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Baileys in the whipping cream sounds ammmmazingggg! :)
Made this last night, the filling turned out perfect after being refrigerated overnight! It was a very delicious pie, but it came out really rich. For me, it’s better in small slices. I used 72% Ghiradelli dark chocolate bars, however, the color turned out lighter than your pie – more of a milk chocolate mousse color. I probably used 1 1/4 cups of ultrafine sugar, but not a whole lot of salt. I have a HUGE sweet tooth too, so I know I did something wrong if it’s too sweet even for me. The filling tastes more like a chocolate cheesecake. I would definitely love to try this pie again – any suggestions?
I would say that your chocolate was sweeter than mine then because of the clues that the pie tasted very sweet and was lighter in color. In that case, I’d use a darker chocolate next time because while it is pie so of course it’s sweet, it’s not overly sweet. Rich yes, but not ‘super sweet’. Change brands of chocolate and/or use a higher percentage (darker) chocolate would be my advice.
I was wary at first of using 72% cacao chocolate because I didn’t want a dark chocolate flavor, but this pie had the perfect balance of rich cocoa and sweetness – not too sweet and not too dark. I used normal white sugar with no problems (I did sift it first just to ensure there would be no clumps, but I think I could have skipped that step). There was not a trace of grittiness in the pie. The crust was delicious and held together well (yay!). I whipped my own cream instead of using store-bought whipped cream and the difference was phenomenal. I’m never going back to store-bought! The flavor of my homemade whipped cream was so much fresher and it didn’t have that fake sweetness like Cool Whip does. I piped little swirls of whipped cream on top and it looks so cute and is absolutely delicious! Thank you for another wonderful recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it came out great for you! I love this pie too and think the chocolate intensity level is spot-on, as written!
Hello!
This looks as pretty as it does delicious
I was wondering…does this pie taste like dark choclate or milk chocolate?
If it tastes like dark chocolate can i sub in a sweeter chocolate for the 72% or more chocolate?
Im not really a fan of dark chocolate
I like stuff on the sweeter side :)
Love your blog!
It’s not dark in the sense that it’s bitter and it’s not milk in the sense that it could lack flavor and feel like it needs some more oomph. It’s just the most luscious and perfect pie you will ever eat and perfectly sweet! Make it exactly how I wrote the recipe and you’re going to LOVE it!
I have made this pie at least 4 times now, including for Thanksgiving yesterday. It was a nice addition to the usual pumpkin, pecan, and Apple pies. This time I used a mint Oreo crust and it was delish! It was the first dessert to disappear from our dessert table!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! So glad to hear you’ve made it many times and that it was the first to disappear on Thanksgiving! The mint Oreo crust sounds awesome!
This is exactly what my daughter wants for Thanksgiving. Thanks! In spite of being a fairly decent cook, I am completely unable to melt chocolate successfully. Any hints???
Just do exactly what I said in step 7. and make sure you’re using a chocolate BAR, not chocolate chips as they are much more resistant to melting. Enjoy!
Just to clarify, is the chocolate sweetened or unsweetened in this recipe? Thanks!
I used 72% chocolate which isn’t very sweet at all. I recommend something in that range of darkness, say 72 to about 90% dark chocolate.
I can’t wait to make this–but I have two questions to ask you first.
You mentioned “chocolate-filled Oreos rather than white-filled,” but I’ve never seen any chocolate-filled ones! Is it okay to use white-filled ones, as long as they are not Double Stuffed?
Also, is it all right to use a blender to mix the crust? I don’t have a food processor. Thank you for this recipe!
Chocolate-filled have been around forever; I bet if you look for them, you’ll see them right next to regular Oreos but if not, regular are fine, noting the crust may not appear as dark or taste quite as chocolaty.
I’ve never used a blender for crusts but if that’s all you have, may as well give it a try.
Finally. I have been trying french silk pie recipes and could not get rid of the grit of undissolved sugar, though I was following directions to the letter. You are the first person to explain why it’s happening and how to eliminate it. Though I only had regular granulated sugar for today’s attempt, by pulverizing it first in a food processor and beating the filling long enough (35-40 min total!) I produced a rich, delicious, grit free pie. I will look for bakers sugar from now on, and you are my go-to pie recipe for the chocaholics in my life. Thank you so much for the information, I can’t recommend this recipe enough!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and your sugar problem is now forever solved! Amen, and love it when there’s multiple wins that come from one recipe!
Can I use confectioner’s sugar instead?
No.
This is the BEST pie I’ve ever had or made. Just like you said. My boyfriend was like, “well, prepare to make this twice a week.” It’s PERFECT. THANK YOU.
Thanks for trying the recipe and so glad you and your boyf agree…that it’s the BEST pie!! It’s truly the best pie I’ve ever made and ever tasted. There are just no words til you experience it…and glad you’ve experienced it :)
Oh. My. God. This is the best dessert I have ever made. Ambrosia of the gods. It could probably used for making world peace. Just sayin’. :)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that it’s the best dessert you’ve ever made!! Honestly, I’ve made thousands between blogging 6 years and 2 cookbooks and truly, this pie is something special, I would agree! It’s definitely the best pie I’ve ever eaten or made, hands down, and so glad you love it and yes to making world peace with it :)
Yummy! the pie looks so delicious!!!