Today is He-Who-Was-Formerly-Known-as-Eight’s birthday. Today he is NINE. No, I don’t know where the time has gone. Somewhere along the line there were long nights of rocking in a darkened room, long days of pretending to be Stephanie to his Sportacus. But Lazytown moves have been replaced by karate, and the chattering toddler has evolved into a voracious reader after my own heart, falling asleep most nights with a book on his chest. The preschooler who disassembled everything he could get his hands on (especially flashlights and ballpoint pens) has become an eternally curious researcher who studies the instruction manual and warranty, and prints out the shipping label to send his broken electronics in for repair.
We’re not having a big party this year (we have them every other year), so we’re having a quiet family dinner tonight and a movie with a friend this weekend. The birthday menu requested: Breaded chicken filet sandwiches, homemade macaroni and cheese, and chocolate pie. No cake, just pie. That’s my boy.
1 baked 9″ pie shell
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
4 large egg yolks
3 cups whole milk
5 oz. bittersweet chocolate
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 Tbsp. softened butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Topping:
3/4 cup chilled heavy cream
1 Tbsp. sugar
Melt both chocolates in a double boiler or the microwave. Stir until smooth and set aside. Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt and egg yolks in a heavy saucepan. Then whisk in milk, pouring it into the pan in a slow stream. Bring the mixture to a boil, continuing to whisk, until thickened. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat, and whisk in chocolates, butter and vanilla. Transfer the filling to a bowl and cover the surface with a piece of buttered wax paper. Cool completely.
Spoon filling into pie shell and chill pie, loosely covered, for at least 6 hours. Just before serving, beat cream with sugar with an electric mixer until it holds stiff peaks and spread on top of pie. If you like, garnish with chocolate shavings or a dusting of cocoa powder.
Home Baked 
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