PieDay Friday- Chocolate Tapioca Pie

Tapioca pudding is such a comfort food for many of us in the Midwest and the South. Served warm or cold, it always reminds me of childhood. Always trying to recapture my youth, I've been curious for a while about making a tapioca pie. After doing a few web searches and digging through countless cookbooks, I couldn't find one single recipe for it. I found recipes for fruit pies that were thickened with tapioca pearls but none that used tapioca pudding as the main filling. I assumed that there must be a reason for this, that maybe tapioca pudding just wasn't pie compatible. I basically gave up on the idea until this week.
As of going to bed Wednesday night, I still had no idea what kind of pie I was going to make and feature for this week's PieDay Friday. Nothing sounded good to me or I didn't have the ingredients for what did sound good. Thursday morning I got up and started rummaging around in my pantry and found an unopened box of Minute Tapioca and the memory of my tapioca pie idea came rushing back. I set to work and came up with this delightfully different yet soothingly familiar pie. I don't know why there aren't any (or any that are easy to find) recipes for a tapioca pudding pie but there should be!  It tastes exactly as good as you think it would!

Tips:

• Whole or 2% milk work best for this recipe, as they do for most puddings.
• Minute tapioca is what you will typically find in that red box, just above the boxed pudding mixes in most grocery stores.
• Instead of Kahlua, 1 teaspoon of vanilla can be substituted. You may also omit this step entirely if desired.
• If you are having trouble getting the mixture to thicken you may add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to hot mixture.

Chocolate Tapioca Pie

2oz German Chocolate (or Semi-Sweet)

1oz Bittersweet Chocolate

1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons Tapioca (quick cook, or "Minute")
3 cups milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon Kahlua, optional
1 chocolate cookie pie crust, prepared


In a large saucepan, partially melt the chocolate/s over low heat. The bottom's of the chocolate pieces should be melted, but not the tops. Add the sugar, tapioca, milk and beaten egg and whisk together. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture has thickened and comes to a full boil. Continue cooking for 3 minutes from this point.  Remove from heat  and stir in  Kahlua. Pour pudding into a prepared chocolate cookie crust. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until chilled and firm. Top with whipped cream if desired.