French Silk Chocolate Pie

1 sheet refrigerated pie crust
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar

whipped cream, chocolate curls, optional

1. Line a 7 in pie plate with pie crust. Prick bottom, trim and flute edges. Line shell with a double thickness of foil and bake at 450 for 4 minutes. Remove foil, bake 2-4 minutes longer until crust is golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

2. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and eggs until well blended. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 160 degrees. Remove from heat. Stir in melted chocolate and vanilla until smooth. Let cool to luke warm (90 degrees), stirring occasionally.

3. In a small bowl cream butter until light and fluffy. Add cooled chocolate mixture; beat on high speed for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.

4. In another large bowl beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add confectioners' sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Fold into chocolate mixture.

5. Pour into crust. Chill for at least 6 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.

This pie was good! Took forever to get the egg mixture to 160 and then a long wait for it to cool down to 90 degrees...but well worth it! Andy loved it and didn't want to share it last night at our New Year's Eve party! But he did :) . I used my stand mixer for steps 3 and 4.

Taken from Taste of Home Comfort Food magazine that my mother in law gave me over Thanksgiving.