Lactaid® whole milk is new to me, but I’ve been trying to cook with it, mostly for things only my husband will eat that call for milk. It has more sugars than regular milk, and that can’t be good for me. So, I’ll be using it for chocolate desserts that don’t appeal to me, like this chocolate cream pie. I was concerned about whether it would set like a filling with regular milk. I tried it once, using tapioca starch for the thickening, but it would not set up at all, even though it seemed to thicken in the pan as I was cooking it. So I tried it again with the traditional cornstarch, and it came out fine, as you can see.
The recipe comes from my old Betty Crocker’s New Picture Cook Book (1961), p. 354. It has the option of using unsweetened baking chocolate or cocoa powder. I used the latter. I was out of granulated sugar, so I substituted powdered sugar 1:1, since the milk is sweeter than regular milk. The recipe reflects my choices.
Chocolate Cream Pie with Lactaid® Whole Milk
I made a pie crust from refrigerated dough and let it cool while I cooked the filling.
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups Lactaid® whole milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- Mix the powdered sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt in a large saucepan.
- Slowly whisk in milk until all the cocoa is dissolved.
- Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the filling thickens and boils. Boil for 1 minute.
- Remove the pan from the heat, and quickly whisk about half of the filling mixture into the egg yolks; then pour the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan and return to the heat.
- Boil the mixture for another minute, whisking constantly.
- Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.
- Pour into baked pie shell and cool on counter or in refrigerator.
I hear that it’s very creamy and plenty sweet, even though powdered sugar is usually not a 1:1 substitute for granulated. It looks so good, I almost wish I liked chocolate.
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