Chocolate Cream Pie

I'm drooling right now just looking back over these pictures.  I made my daddy a chocolate cream pie for Father's Day, and it was declared by him "the best pie he's ever had."  I couldn't believe how perfect it turned out.  It was so, so, so easy to make - yet tasted sinfully rich.  The crust is just a basic, flaky pie crust; I wouldn't use any other crust on this if you mainly want to taste the chocolate layer.  This layer is rich, fudgey, silky, and oh-so chocolatey.  It's also kind of thin, but you definitely won't mind because it's so rich anyways.  And even though it is very rich, it doesn't fill you up like a cheesecake would (since it's a thin layer) - so you will definitely want to go back for seconds(:  This pie was over half way eaten the first night I made it!  And that's just between my mom, dad and I, and it was right after we'd gone out for Father's Day dinner. This is definitely the only chocolate cream pie I will ever use from now on!

Yield: 1 9-inch pie

Ingredients:

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Thawed Cool Whip or home made whipped cream

Chocolate shavings, toasted coconut, or chopped candy bar pieces

Directions:

1. In medium saucepan, combine sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. In a medium bowl, beat milk and egg yolks until smooth. Gradually stir into sugar mixture. Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens and comes to a full boil. Boil and stir for one minute.
2. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate, butter and vanilla. Stir until melted.
3. Pour into pie shell. Place plastic wrap over filling to prevent skin from forming and chill for several hours. Top with Cool Whip or whipped cream and toppings if desired.