Chocolate Tantric Pie

I recently made this pie for my friends at a birthday celebration. It's from the Esalen Cookbook. In many ways, I think it's a dream to go to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur and take cooking classes. But while I wait for that to happen, I might create my own mini Esalen sanctuary in my kitchen. The cookbook is beautiful with stories to accompany every recipe. Chocolate pies are usually too sweet or too dense for me, so I was excited to find this recipe incorporating two of my favorite ingredients: cayenne and ginger! The pie takes on a different taste where the sweet is complimented by the kick of cayenne and the tangy chewiness of ginger. This is also a step in the right direction of a healthy pie - I used a whole wheat crust from Rainbow Co-op and it tasted delicious! Enjoy my friends!...it tastes particularly good with ginger ice cream..mmmmmm

Chocolate Tantric Pie

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chipped almonds

1 cup chopped candied ginger

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 whole wheat pie crust

Directions:

1. Over medium heat, bring the whipping cream to a simmer in a one quart saucepan. Stir continuously to prevent scorching on the bottom. 

2 Whisk as you slowly pour the chocolate chips into the cream and continue to stir until all the chocolate is melted. Stir in half the almonds and half the ginger. Stir in the cayenne pepper. 

3. Pour the chocolate tantric mixture into a pre-baked pie shell. 

4. Sprinkle the remaining almonds and ginger on top. Cool until firm. Slice and serve :)