S’Mores Pudding Pie {gluten-free option}

8/10/17

S’Mores Pudding Pie combines the classic campfire treat with a traditional chocolate pudding pie. Use a store bought or homemade graham cracker crust, or try this gluten free crust made with almond meal, fill the chocolate pudding pie with Hershey’s milk chocolate pudding, and top with a fluffy toasted marshmallow meringue, dessert doesn’t get better than this chocolate s’mores pie.

Originally published on June 20, 2012. Updated on August 9, 2017.

Chocolate S’Mores Pie (with Gluten-Free Crust option)

If I mention campfires and dessert, what are you thinking about? Naturally, that means S’Mores.  But this isn’t just any old S’Mores. I made you a pie.

A S’Mores Pudding Pie, to be exact!

Well, actually, I made my dad this pie. The day I first made this, he was coming over for dinner. And when I was growing up and he was going to make dessert, he made pie. Pudding pie, to be exact. Frozen pie crust and Jell-O Cook & Serve Chocolate Pudding. It had to be Cook & Serve. This may not be from-scratch cooking, but dad never used the instant stuff. It just wouldn’t have been the same.

The only time that pudding pie was not his go-to dessert was when we had campfires.  Oh, how I love the campfires. Dad would prep the foil packets of Campfire Potatoes in the house, and usually soak some corn on the cob in water.  We would carry all of out vittles outside, and get the fire started.  Corn and potato packets were tossed on the fire, and then we would start roasting up some hot dogs.  I am telling you, I am not a big hot dog person, but there is nothing like a hot dog cooked over a campfire.  Unless it got burned.  Then it was inedible.  I am pretty particular about my campfire fare.  You’ll understand more when I tell you about dessert.  Our drink of choice was always the mini single-serving size bottles of Sunny Delight.  I don’t know why, it just was.  Maybe so he could feel like he was giving me something nutritious with the hot dogs and buttery potatoes and chocolate and marshmallows.  And, little known fact, but you can slide the plastic label off the bottle, put it on the end of your roasting stick, and shrink wrap it to the stick.  I may have done this every time we had a campfire once.  If they still put the same labels on the bottle.  I am not sure, since I haven’t had a Sunny Delight in years.

And, of course, dessert was always S’mores.  Usually multiple S’mores.  Then some more roasted marshmallows.

But, as with most things, I was a bit of a perfectionist with my roasted (or toasted – what do you say?) marshmallows.  I would find some nice red coals, then hover my marshmallow above them, rotating the stick like I was turning a chicken on a spit, until it was perfectly golden brown and crispy on the outside, and oozy gooey on the inside.  I like to say that I was giving my marshmallows a suntan.  If they got the least bit burnt, they were either given to dad or a brother, or just chucked into the fire.  Again, inedible!

Then after I had gorged on S’mores and marshmallows, I proceeded to put the Hershey Bar wrappers on the end of my stick and burn those up, as well. Oh, and this is so fun – maybe even more fun than the Sunny Delight shrink wrap – when you put a Hershey wrapper (the old kind of paper wrapper that went around the foil-wrapped bar, not the newfangled plastic-y wrappers), it states fully intact and legible until it shrivels into a tiny little wrapper.  Then poof, the ashes disintegrate.  COOLEST.THING.EVER.

And I love that my dad was totally cool with this.  After some more poking and prodding of the fire, and chit chatting, and maybe even singing some of the old Girl Scout songs, all that would be left was some white embers, and we would put out the fire.  I got my last bit of a pyro fix by sprinkling water on the coals and listening to it singe.  Then, our hair and clothes infused with the smell of smoke and wood and all of our yummy food, we would walk back up to the house, tired and happy.

So I was going to make dad’s classic pudding pie, but then I got to thinking about our campfires, and I knew I had to make S’Mores Pudding Pie.

I mean, a pudding pie filling made from Hershey bars, the required chocolate component for a classic s’more.  And, conveniently, it called for four egg yolks.  I have an issue with mismatched use of egg yolks and whites before, so while I was going to just throw some good ol’ marshmallows on top and toast them, having four egg whites around was just the reason to make homemade marshmallow meringue. And I am so glad I did.  It was so light and fluffy, and the pudding was rich and creamy, with that distinctive Hershey bar taste.

Now I did use a little help with a store-bought graham cracker crust when I first made this s’mores pie, but you can totally make your own, maybe using this graham cracker crust recipe from Crazy for Crust. Here’s what those original photos looked like…

And now I’ve updated the recipe to give you a gluten free option for the crust, because even when you can’t have gluten, you still deserve a big ol’ slice of pie…

If you love S’Mores Pudding Pie, you’ll love these recipes (that all have gluten-free options too)…

• Gluten Free S’Mores Magic Bars
• Toasted Marshmallow Chunky Brownie Batter No-Churn Ice Cream
• S’Mores Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups
• Flourless Fluffernutter Thumbprint Cookies

Ditch the graham crackers and make Green Apple S’Mores from Barefeet in the Kitchen. If you can’t get to a campfire, make No-Bake S’Mores Treats from Boulder Locavore. And keep the kitchen cool with No-Bake S’Mores Cookies from My Gluten-Free Kitchen.

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Here’s how to make S’Mores Pudding Pie…

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

S'Mores Pudding Pie

no campfire needed to make this easy pudding pie! Made with Hershey's Milk Chocolate and marshmallow meringue.

Prep Time30 mins

chilling time4 hrs

Total Time4 hrs 30 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate desserts, gluten free desserts, kid friendly, pie recipes, pudding pie, vegetarian

Servings: 12

Calories: 397

Author: Brianne @ Cupcakes & Kale Chips

Ingredients

For the pudding pie:

• Storebought or homemade graham cracker crust or gluten free below
• 7.75 oz milk chocolate five 1.55 oz. bars Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 4 large egg yolks (reserve the whites for the marshmallow meringue)
• 3 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the marshmallow meringue:

• 4 large egg whites (reserved from preparing the pudding pie)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar

For the gluten free crust:

• 2 cups almond meal lightly packed
• 5 Tablespoons melted butter
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Pudding Pie:

• Prepare homemade or open the packaging on the crust.
• Remove chocolate bars from wrappers, break into pieces and set aside.
• In a medium saucepan, stir together sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt in 2-quart saucepan.
• In a large measuring cup or other container with a spout, whisk together the egg yolks and milk . Gradually blend milk mixture into sugar mixture.
• Place saucepan over medium-low heat, and stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Boil and stir for an additional 1 minute.
• Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla.
• Add chocolate bar pieces to the mixture, and stir until melted and well blended.
• Pour pudding into crumb crust.
• Place the pie in the refrigerator to chill for several hours or until firm.

For Marshmallow Meringue:

• When the pie is completely chilled, combine egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and cream of tartar in the bowl of your electric mixer.
• Place bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk until sugar is dissolved and mixture reaches 145°F.
• Remove from heat and attach bowl to your electric mixer.
• Using the whisk attachment, beat on low speed until foamy, then turn up to high speed and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. This will take several minutes.

To Assemble Pie:

• Preheat your broiler, or prepare a creme brulee torch.
• Remove the pie from the refrigerator, and spread or pipe the meringue over the pie.
• Place under the broiler for 3-5 minutes, or until nicely browned, or use your torch to brown the meringue.
• For the gluten free "graham cracker" crust:
• Preheat oven to 350°F and coat a 9-inch pie pan with nonstick cooking spray.
• Combine crust ingredients in a foor processor and pulse to form "crumbs".
• Transfer the crumbs to the prepared pan and press in firmly to form a crust.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned and firm.
• Allow to cool to room temperature.

Notes

• Nutrition information based on using homemade gluten free crust

Pudding pie filling from Hershey's Creamy Milk Chocolate Pudding Pie. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 397kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 79mg | Sodium: 309mg | Potassium: 95mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 285IU | Calcium: 128mg | Iron: 1.5mg

Enjoy!