s'mores pie

I have adapted this pie from my version of the Chocolate and Strawberry pie featured in the 2007 movie Waitress. That recipe can be found in my book Movie Dinners. We have the beers in the fridge, a 1.1kg bag of tortilla chips (don't ask!) and the Superbowl is on later. Short of getting on a plane this is as close to the US as I'm going

to get for a while.

Mise en scene

Pie crust

graham crackers or

digestives, crushed

125g salted butter, melted

1 tbsp golden syrup

Chocolate pie filling

400g dark chocolate

300ml double cream

100ml milk

3 tsp coffee granules (expresso is best)

2 eggs separated

meringue topping

50g caster sugar

2 egg whites

1 tbsp cornflour

It’s all in the edit….

Pre heat oven to 175C Gas 3 and light a camp fire if you have one.

1. Place the biscuits into a roomy bowl. Using the end of a rolling pin crush the biscuits until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.

2. Melt the butter in a pan with thegolden syrup. Pour this delicious liquid over the biscuit crumbs and mix well.

3. Tumble this mixture into a foil lined medium sized loose bottomed flan ring. Press down well either with your fingers or the back of a metal spoon. Refrigerate whilst you make the pie filling.

4. Place the cream, milk, coffee granules and chocolate in a bowl. Set this bowl over a barely simmering pan of water. As the cream heats stir gently until the chocolate has melted and the mixture has taken on a uniform colour. Leave to cool just slightly. Separate your eggs and put aside your whites for later.

5. Beat your egg yolks in a separate bowl. Add several tablespoons of the warm chocolate cream mixture to the eggs, whisking well as you do. Return this egg chocolate concoction to the chocolate cream and combine well. The cream may thicken slightly as you do this, it’s OK!

6. Take your biscuit base from the fridge. Fill this with your chocolate custard and bake in the oven for between 18 and 25 minutes. The pie is done when the custard is mostly set and only the middle wobbles when shaken, please don’t smirk as you read that it’s unbecoming. Leave to cool as you make the meringue topping.

Turn the oven up to 240c

7. Whisk your egg whites until stiff peaks. Whisk in the sugar and the cornflour a tablespoon at a time. The cornflour keeps the meringue chewy and gives it a more marshmallow like texture. Tip over the chocolate use a knife to pull the meringue into peaks and bake in the oven for five minutes.

8. Cool and serve either cold or at room temperature. Sitting round a campfire would be a fun way to enjoy this too.

Voice over

If you want to you could add vanilla extract to the custard when you melt the chocolate.Spiced chocolates would work well here too, especially those containing oranges and chilli.