Go grab a big old bag of Nestle's Toll House Morsels and look on the back. Besides the recipe for the cookies, there's a recipe for the Toll House Pie. It's a cookie, it's a pie... the person who first concocted the idea was a genius. The chips settle to the bottom and create a loose chocolate layer interlaced with the dough. Spoon a little bit of whipped cream or a scoop of premium vanilla ice cream on top and you have heaven on a plate. It's simple and downright delicious.
Now I'm all for experimentation. Nothing's better than playing around with the ingredients and coming up with a bigger and better pie recipe. I've done that with the Peppermint Fudge Pie, and the plethora of cream pies, and the mini-pies, and the Peanut Butter Cup Pie. And with certain recipes, you think you can make it better. Sometimes you look at it and say, "I wonder if I can improve it by doing..."
In this case of Toll House Pie, you would be wrong.
While cooking can be an art form, baking is more of a science. And this pie is much more like baking a cookie than it is about building a pie filling. Experimenting with the mixture in a baked item can have drastic consequences. Make one little mistake in the experiment and it doesn't turn out the way you planned. Maybe it doesn't rise. Maybe it's too dry or it's so runny that is spills all over the plate. So after some testing, I can honestly say that you just don't want to mess with this recipe if you want a great chocolate chip cookie pie.
And I'm not alone. Do a Google Search for Toll House Pie Recipe or Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie recipe. Almost every single one of them is identical to this one, unless they suggest you squeeze a tube of pre-fab cookie dough into a pie crust. If you live in Utah, you know that the Dodo restaurant has an awesome Toll House Pie. Do a Google search for "Dodo Toll House Pie Recipe" and according to a number of the other food blogs out there, the recipe that they use is the exact same as the one on the bag, except the portions are larger. Their filling is very loose, and I believe that is due to a shorter cooking time. If you want that consistency, reduce the cooking time by 5-7 minutes.
Beyond that, why try to mess with Chocolate Chip Perfection? Let's use Nestle's recipe.
Now that doesn't mean that we can't vary it a bit to create different types of cookie pies, like a Peanut Butter Cookie Pie or an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Pie... but those recipes will be posted another day.
Toll House Pie
Courtesy of Nestle
2 large eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks of butter, brought to room temperature
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 unbaked 9 inch pie crust
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl until they are foamy. Add the sugars and beat on high speed until they become creamy. Add the flour gradually until it is incorporated. Add the butter and beat it again until it's well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and the nuts. Scoop the mixture into the pie crust and smooth out.
Bake in the 325 degree oven for 55-60 minutes or until you insert a toothpick and it comes out without any cookie dough attached.
Serve warm with some whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
So make one of these tonight and I challenge you to eat only one slice.
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