Recipe for "frango-pie"

NAME

     FRANGO-PIE - Decadent chocolate mint pie
     One of the things that is memorable about  Marshall  Field's
     department  store  in  Chicago  is  their ``Frango chocolate
     mints.''  This pie captures the flavor perfectly. I got  the
     recipe  from  Malcolm  Slaney,  who ``found it in a cookbook
     when [he was] attending Kayak School in Oregon.''

INGREDIENTS (Makes one pie)

     250 g     butter
     250 g     confectioners sugar (sifted)
     120 g     unsweetened chocolate
     4         eggs
     4 ml      peppermint extract
     10 ml     vanilla extract
     10        vanilla wafers, crushed

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Beat the butter and sugar in a  large  bowl  until
               light and fluffy.
          (2)  In the top of a double boiler, melt the chocolate.
               Add   to   the   butter-sugar   mixture  and  beat
               thoroughly.
          (3)  Add the eggs one at a  time,  beating  well  after
               each egg, until well blended.
          (4)  Fold in the peppermint and vanilla.
          (5)  Line the pie tin with  the  vanilla  wafer  crumbs
               (buttering  the  pie  tin  makes them stick to the
               side a little better). Pour in the filling.
          (6)  Refrigerate for two hours.

NOTES

     This recipe fills a shallow 20-cm pie tin; add 50% to every-
     thing to fill a 25-cm pie tin.
     If you're not very good at pie crusts (I'm not),  feel  free
     to  use a pre-formed graham cracker crust. The chocolate and
     mint flavors predominate, no matter what crust you use.
     This is serious decadence! The first time  I  made  this,  I
     stopped several times in disbelief of just what I was doing.
     Enjoy!

RATING

     Difficulty: moderate (melting chocolate is  tricky).   Time:
     30  minutes preparation, several hours chilling.  Precision:
     measure the ingredients.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Chris Kent
     Western Research Laboratory, Digital Equipment Corp., Palo Alto, Calif., USA
     kent@decwrl.dec.com -or- decwrl!kent