This chocolate orange pie tastes just like Christmas! It has a spicy gingersnap crust, dark chocolate truffle layer, and rich chocolate orange mousse, topped with lightly whipped cream, and chocolate curls. You will be pleasantly surprised at how simple this chocolate orange pie is to whip up!
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Why You'll Love this Recipe
Chocolate, orange, and ginger are classic winter flavors that work surprisingly well together. The spiciness of the ginger is balanced out by the fresh and tangy orange flavor and the rich, slightly bitter dark chocolate. The pairing is delicious.
I love the crunchy crust and how it contrasts with the decadent chocolate ganache truffle layer, and the chocolate orange mousse, with light whipped cream on top. It's the perfect dessert to add to your Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Holiday table.
If gingersnap isn't your thing, you can always replace the gingersnap cookie crumbs in this chocolate orange pie recipe with graham cracker crumbs or crushed Oreos for a graham cracker crust or chocolate cookie crust.
If you love chocolate and orange together, try these chocolate orange truffles, they're so easy to make and taste incredible.
What Goes into this Recipe
- Gingersnap cookies. Use crispy, gingersnap cookies to grind up into crumbs to make the crust. If you don't like the gingersnap curst, you can swap these for graham crackers or Oreos.
- Sugar. Use white, granulated sugar to make sweeten the crust.
- Butter. A little melted butter helps bind the crust together. You can use salted or unsalted butter.
- Cream. Heavy whipping Cream goes into the chocolate truffle layer and the chocolate orange mousse layer.
- Chocolate. Use semi-sweet chocolate for the truffle and mousse. You can use chopped chocolate bars or chocolate chips.
- Salt. A little salt helps balance the flavors.
- Fresh Oranges. We use fresh orange juice and zest from
- Vanilla. A little vanilla for flavor.
- Powdered sugar. We use powdered sugar to sweeten the whipped cream on top.
- Chocolate Curls. Chocolate curls or chocolate shavings to garnish.
How to Make this Recipe
- Make the crust. Start by crushing your gingersnap cookies. I usually blend mine up in a food processor or a blender to make the gingersnap cookies into fine crumbs. But, you can also do it by hand-just place them in a large gallon size bag and use a rolling pin to smash the cookies into small crumbs. 1a) Mix the crumbs with melted butter, a pinch of salt, and sugar and dump into you pie tin. 1b) Use a measuring cup to firmly push down the mixture into the pan. You want the crumbs to compress as much as possible so that they stick together firmly and make a crust. Bake your crust at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool your crust completely before adding your truffle layer in the bottom.
- Make truffle layer. The truffle layer is a simple combination of semisweet chocolate and cream. 2a) Heat your cream and pour it over your semisweet chocolate chips. Let it sit for a minute and keep stirring until smooth. If needed, you can microwave the mixture, stirring in between, until it's silky smooth. 2b) Pour and smooth into the bottom of your gingersnap crust and chill.
- Heat and Infuse Cream. 3a) Heat the cream with the orange juice and orange zest until hot. This will help infuse the orange flavor. Pour over the chocolate and let sit for a few minutes. 3b) Whisk until smooth. Chill until cool.
- Whip Mousse. 4a) Pour cold cream on top of the chocolate orange mixture, add the vanilla, and a pinch of salt. 4b) Use a hand mixer and beat on high until you have a light, fluffy, mousse-like mixture.
- Assemble. Pour the chocolate orange mousse on top of the truffle layer in the pie crust and chill for 4 hours before serving.
- Serve. Before serving, top with freshly whipped cream and chocolate curls. Try our stabilized whipped cream to prevent the whipped cream from weeping or falling while it chills!
Frequently Asked Questions and Expert Tips
Yes! I prefer the flavor of the fresh orange to the extract, but I have made this chocolate orange pie using orange extract. In the orange mousse, simply replace the orange juice with more cream, and add 1 teaspoon of orange extract.
Yes, if you don't have gingersnap cookies or don't care for the flavor, you can use graham crackers or Oreos for the crust.
I recommend using a deep 9 or 10 inch pie dish. You could also use a 9-inch springform pan or even an 8x8-inch square pan if that's all you have.
When making the mousse for this chocolate orange pie, you start by making a chocolate ganache, chilling it and adding cream and whipping it up into a light chocolate orange mousse. Make sure the ganache is chilled and the cream you add to the ganache are cold. Everything will whip up so much better if it is chilled.
I love the flavor of the Terry's Dark Chocolate Orange you can find at the grocery store during the holiday season. To boost the orange flavor even further you can replace all or a portion of the chocolate in the truffle layer and the chocolate orange mousse with chopped up Terry's Dark Chocolate Orange. You can even garnish the pie by grating some of the chocolate orange over top of the whipped cream.
How to Store this Recipe
This recipe should be covered stored in the refrigerator and is best eaten within 5 days.
You can freeze this pie whole or individual slices. Make sure you wrap the pie tightly in plastic wrap to prevent any freezer burn. Thaw to room temperature before eating. Once frozen, it's best if eaten within 3 months of freezing.
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Chocolate Orange Pie
Ingredients
Gingersnap Crust:
- 10.5 ounces crispy gingersnap cookies finely ground (about 2 ½ cups finely ground crumbs)-I used cheap store bought ones, you want them to be hard to give you give a crispy crust
- pinch of salt
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
Truffle Layer:
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Orange Chocolate Mousse Layer:
- 1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 ¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons orange zest (zest of about 4 medium oranges, can add more for stronger orange flavor)
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice (juice of about 2 medium oranges)
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon pure orange extract
Topping
- ⅔ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- chocolate curls or shavings for garnish
Instructions
Gingersnap Crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a blender or food processor grind up gingersnap cookies. Mix in melted butter, sugar, and salt.
- Press cookie crumbs firmly into a 9-inch piedish and up the sides. I usually use the bottom of a measuring cup to press itinto the pie dish. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool completely before using.
Chocolate Truffle Layer:
- In a microwave safe bowl, heat ⅔ cup of heavy cream. Pour over chocolate chips and let sit for 3 minutes. Stir until smooth. If necessary, microwave in 15 second increments until smooth. Pour into cooled crust. Freeze until solid.
Chocolate Orange Mousse & Assembly
- In a microwave safe bowl, mix together ¼ cup of heavy cream, orange juice, and orange zest. Heat for 60 seconds (or more if needed) until hot. Pour over chocolate chips and let sit for 3 minutes. Stir until smooth. If necessary, microwave in 15 second increments until smooth.Chill in the fridge until cool.
- Add in 1 cup of cold cream, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Whip until you get a light mousse-like layer. Pour on top of truffle ganache layer. Chill for at least 4 hours.
- Whip the cream with vanilla and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Top the chilled pie with whipped cream. Garnish with chocolate curls or shavings. Serve and enjoy.
Al says
I love this pie! We make it every year.
Kristen says
I have made this several times now and it is a family favorite. Easy to put together. Thank you for another amazing recipe!