TASTE
Indulge in chocolate without the guilt
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By Jim Romanoff
Associated Press
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It's hard to imagine a better way to demonstrate love than by making a healthy chocolate dessert for Valentine's Day.
This recipe for mocha banana cream pie offers a one-two health punch. It has loads of antioxidant-rich cocoa and dark chocolate, and is low in fat.
Most chocolate cream pie fillings are full of fat because they're made with whole milk and up to four egg yolks. This lighter, version uses one whole egg and evaporated low-fat milk for a creamy result.
Unsweetened cocoa powder and semisweet chocolate chips are combined with a few teaspoons of instant espresso to create that familiar, rich-tasting, mocha flavor.
Using a chocolate crust simply puts this pie over the top, though a graham cracker crust works well, too.
When choosing a prepared pie shell, look for those made without partially hydrogenated oils. Healthy versions of graham cracker and chocolate cookie pie shells can be found in the natural-foods sections of most grocers.
Additional cocoa and espresso powder are whipped into a light version of whipped dessert topping. Using a pastry bag to pipe the mocha cream onto the pie creates an elegant look, but you can just as easily place spoonfuls of the topping around the edge of the pie, or in the center of each slice. To add a final special touch, top the pie with shavings of dark chocolate or dust the pie with cocoa powder.
Start to finish: 2 hours 25 minutes (25 minutes active).
Makes 8 servings.
MOCHA BANANA CREAM PIE
For the pie:
For the topping:
To make the pie, arrange the banana slices over the bottom of the pie shell. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan off the heat, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and espresso powder. Whisk in the evaporated milk and egg.
Place the pan over medium-low heat and whisk constantly until the mixture is thickened and steaming, about 6 minutes. Add chocolate chips and continue whisking until the chips have melted and the mixture comes to a simmer.
Remove the pan from heat and whisk in vanilla. Pour the filling over the banana slices in the pie shell.
Place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the filling (this prevents a skin from forming on the pudding). Refrigerate the pie until the filling is firm, about 2 hours.
Once the pie is firm, make the topping.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the whipped topping, cocoa and espresso powder. Spoon the topping into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe a decorative border around the edge of the pie.
Alternatively, spoon the topping into a large zip-close plastic bag, snip off one corner of the bag, then pipe the topping around the edge of the pie by gently squeezing the bag.
