Midnight Mocha Pie in Cafe Au Lait Crust

Warning : If you're not a fan of coffee and gooey things, this pie is not for you. This unassuming pie before you is the whole grain Midnight Mocha Pie in Cafe Au Lait crust from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking and it shouts mocha. I've been wanting to try it and try my hand at making a whole grain crust and I finally had all the ingredients on hand. I put it together two nights ago and let my girls dig in last night. This is a take it or leave it kind of pie- either you like coffee or you don't. The girls who don't like it didn't appreciate this pie but the girls who did really thought it was delicious and told me so. So there you have it in terms of how it was received. Some notes about the pie itself.. As I said, I really wanted to try my hand at whole grain crust and making it was no different than a regular one. The crust features barley flour, oat flour and regular flour. I must not have let it chill long enough because it broke on me when trying to put it in the pan. No harm done, because all you do is patch it back together. The filling comes together fast and then bakes in forty five minutes although my center wasnt jiggly as the recipe indicated. In any case I let it chill overnight in the fridge. The center was still a bit gooey the next day, but I'm not sure anyone really minded. The changes I made were the result of pure laziness- in the crust, I just added the espresso and cream instead of dissolving it, and in the filling I didnt have coffee liqueur so I just added more cream and about 1/2 tsp of coffee extract.

Midnight Mocha Pie in Cafe Au Lait Crust
adapted from KAF Whole Grain Baking

Crust:
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup whole barley flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp espresso powder
6 tbsp cold butter or margarine
2 1/2- 3 tbsp milk or cream

Filling:
2 tbsp cornmeal
2/3 cup chocolate chips
4 tbsp butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
1/4 cup dutch process cocoa
3 tbsp milk or cream
2 tsp espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp coffee extract

To make the pie crust: place all of the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and stir to blend. Add the margarine and cut into so that pea sized pieces remain. Add the lesser amount of liquid at a time until it clumps together when squeezed. Add more if necessary. Gather into a disk and refrigerate. Allow the dough to chill for at least an hour. Remove from the fridge and allow to warm up slightly.

Working on a silicone mat, roll out your dough. Fit into a nine inch pie shell. Chill until ready to use.
Preheat your oven to 350. To make the filling, begin by grinding the cornmeal and chocolate chips together. Set aside. Beat together the margarine, sugar and salt until fluffy. Add the eggs one a time and mix, taking care not to incorporate too much air. Add the cocoa powder, the milk/cream and extracts. Blend. Fold in the cornmeal/chocolate mixture.

Pour the filling into the chilled crust and bake for about 45 minutes, covering with aluminum foil half way through.

Remove from the oven, cool completely and refrigerate overnight before serving.