Lighter Frozen Chocolate Mousse Pie

Chocolate pie is my favorite! Last year I went on a quest to find the perfect pie and I found the most amazing Chocolate Silk Pie! It was out of this world good. But this year I decided I better try a healthier chocolate pie.

Have you heard of the show, "Not my Mama's Meals" on the Cooking Channel? It's one of my favorite cooking shows. Paula Deen's son Bobby remakes her recipes in a healthier, lighter way. On one of his shows he made this Lighter Frozen Chocolate Mousse Pie. It looked pretty good so I gave it a try. I made a few slight changes. I expected it to be pretty good but I was blown away by how good it was!  Even lightened up it was rich, smooth and creamy. It tastes like it's made with butter and whipping cream but it's not!

I took a few slices over to my in-laws today and my mother-in-law was going crazy over it! She thought it was amazing and it is!  I'm excited that this lightened up pie is so amazing. I'll be making 2 of these for this Thanksgiving.

The pie comes together pretty quickly. First you melt some dark and semi-sweet chocolate chips with some milk in a double boiler. Then you add just a little bit of corn syrup and vanilla extract.

Then with a hand mixer you whip up a little meringue powder with water until peaks form. It reminded me of whipping up heavy whipping cream, only much healthier!  You can buy meringue powder in the baking section at craft stores and also some grocery stores might carry it.

Once the chocolate cools you add the whipped up meringue and thawed fat-free cool whip to the chocolate until no white streaks show then you put it in your pie dish. You can use any pie crust you'd like. I used my homemade chocolate cookie pie crust. Then you freeze it  for a couple of hours.

When you are ready to serve it, top it with chocolate curls or chopped up chocolate. To make my curls I used a small block of chocolate I got from WinCo (in the bulk section) and warmed it slightly in the microwave to soften it then I used a vegetable peeler to make the curls. Super easy and so pretty!

Lighter Frozen Chocolate Mousse Pie
Recipe adapted from Bobby Dean
Ingredients:
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup low-fat milk
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup (or regular)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons meringue powder (found at craft stores in the baking section)
6 tablespoons water
8 oz. fat-free frozen whipped topping, thawed
semi-sweet or dark chocolate grated or curled for topping
1 pie crust, Oreo crust, chocolate cookie crumb crust or graham cracker crust- baked and cooled

Directions:
Melt both chocolates and the milk in a double boiler over low heat.  Remove from heat and add the corn syrup and vanilla extract. Mix to combine and allow to completely cool.

With an electric mixer on high speed, beat the meringue powder with the water in a medium bowl until glossy peaks form 2-3 minutes. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the beaten meringue and the whipped topping into the cooled chocolate mixture until no streaks of white remain.  Spoon into the prepared crust and spread evenly.  Freeze until frozen, for a couple of hours.  Garnish with grated chocolate or chocolate curls and serve.

(For nutritional info click here.)