Happiness in a box: An ode to chocolate pie and the art of the culinary quick-fix
By Terry Zarikian
Courtesy of Terry Zarikian.
Can this chocolate pudding cake cure all emotional woes? Our writer thinks so.
May 8, 2020
Back in the 1960s when I was a precocious 9 year-old in Caracas, I began what I would call a fascination for ‘quick-fix’ snacks and desserts. My time was often spent alone, only with a live-in housekeeper to keep me company while my father was sick in the hospital and my mother was taking care of him around the clock. The colorful packaging of the items I gazed at while wandering through the aisles of our neighborhood supermarket lifted my spirits and American imports with exotic names like Jell-O, SPAM, and Velveeta would find a way into our cart, offering much-needed comfort once we got back to the kitchen.
Later in the 70s, during my college years in Philadelphia, I rediscovered those old favorites while food shopping and used a combination of innovation and creativity to utilize these not-so-healthy but definitely tasty items in meals that became the talk of campus. Nerves over midterm exams were no match and easily soothed by my Kraft macaroni and cheese casserole. Word even spread about my writing a book with the recipes, but for some reason these culinary masterpieces (as I called them) made with boxed, powdery ingredients didn’t manage to garner interest from the publishing world.
The slower pace we are all living by these days makes me nostalgic for those times and the meals that always made me smile, easing the tougher situations around me. The era of Covid-19 took me back to the past and eventually to the supermarket.
One recent evening at home, while our dog Bella eagerly looked on, my husband and I sat happily indulging in the most decadent and rich chocolate almond truffle pie — made with boxed chocolate pudding mix and Oreo Cookie pie shell. Tonight, as we close out the week and await news on reopenings of restaurants and other local businesses that hopefully will come soon, I suggest taking a moment of gratitude for virtual happy hours, phone calls, drive-by birthdays, chocolate pies and all those other ‘quick fixes’ that are making these times bearable and just a bit sweeter in an instant.
Courtesy of Terry Zarikian. Terry's Chocolate Almond Truffle Pie.
Terry’s Chocolate Almond Truffle Pie
Ingredients:
3.4 oz Jell-O Chocolate Cook & Serve Pudding (alternatively: Hershey Dark Chocolate Instant Pudding or Godiva Dark Chocolate Instant Pudding)
3 ¾ cup of whole milk
¼ cup of Cognac or Brandy
A pinch of salt
Nabisco Oreo Cookie 8 ¾ pie crust
Sliced almonds
Cocoa powder
Preparation:
Pour 1 ¾ cups cold whole milk into a medium bowl. Add the Chocolate Cook & Serve Jell-O mix. Beat with a wire whisk or electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add ¼ cup of Cognac or Brandy and blend well, heating the mixture and constantly stirring with a wooden spoon, until it thickens. Pour the thickened hot puddling into the Oreo cookie pie crust. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Dust with cocoa powder and cover with sliced almonds. Dust one more time with more cocoa powder. Enjoy!
This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 3:13 PM.
