I Tried “Bottle of Wine” Chocolate Pie and It’s Pure Decadence

Although I don’t generally crave a classic slice of apple or pumpkin pie, there is one flavor of pie I will always say yes to: chocolate cream pie. So when I stumbled on this recipe for a boozy chocolate cream pie — made with an entire bottle of wine — I knew I had to give it a try.

At first glance, it didn’t seem doable to put a whole bottle of red wine in a pie — but this recipe sure proved me wrong. It pairs red wine and chocolate together beautifully to create a luscious chocolate cream pie with a grown-up twist that’s perfect for any dinner party.

Get the recipe: Bottle of Wine Chocolate Pie

To make the crust, preheat the oven to 325°F. Mix together the chocolate cookie crumbs, butter, sugar, and salt and transfer it to a pie plate. Press the bottom and sides and bake the crust for 16 to 18 minutes. Let cool completely.

In a medium saucepan, mix together the cornstarch and 1 1/4 cups of sugar. Slowly whisk in the wine and cook over medium until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens, stirring constantly. Stir in the chopped chocolate, butter, and a pinch of salt.

Transfer the filling to the cooled cookie crust and chill in the fridge until set for four hours.

Before serving, whip the heavy whipping cream and the remaining sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip until soft peaks form and top the pie with the whipped cream.

This pie was shockingly easy to make. The chocolate cookie crust came together in just a few minutes and it baked beautifully. However, I did need to leave it in the oven for five minutes longer than the recipe said to ensure it was set and wasn’t too wet.

The filling took less than 10 minutes to whip together and the method was simple. I initially thought the mixture might be clumpy with so much cornstarch, but it ended up being perfectly smooth. The hardest part of the whole process was patiently waiting for the pie to chill!

Every bite of this pie transports you to a wine tasting where they’re pairing exceptional chocolates with the ideal glass of red. Some reviewers found this pie to be a bit too bitter for their liking, but I didn’t have the same reaction. It truly harnesses the flavor of the dry red wine in a wonderfully balanced way. The texture of the crust is crunchy and leads to the creamy, smooth filling and airy whipped cream for a fun play on textures. Truly, it’s an impressive dessert that requires very little effort to pull off from scratch.

• Use a decent wine. The star of this dessert is the wine-infused filling. It’s best to use a decent bottle so the flavor shines through. Of course, you wouldn’t want to break open your most expensive bottle on the wine rack, but choose a good option that’s not too pricey. I used a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon for this pie, so its deep, robust flavor would shine through. However, any dry red wine such as Merlot, Pinot Noir, or Syrah will do. 
• Chop chocolate in a food processor. Three chocolate bars is a lot to chop by hand. If you’re short on time, break up the bars into smaller chunks and throw the chocolate in a food processor. Pulse on the chop setting to easily break them up in no time.
• Use store-bought shortcuts. Want to make this pie even quicker? You could easily utilize a store-bought chocolate cookie crust. Once the filling has been made and set, you could also utilize store-bought whipped cream to shave off a lot of the prep time.

Get the recipe: Bottle of Wine Chocolate Pie