Chocolate Cream Pie

This pie was pretty good!  Especially for being my first pie!  The original recipe is called Mexican chocolate cream pie because they added red pepper and espresso powder, but since I'm not a huge fan of either of those [at least not in my chocolate pie...? weird.] I just left those out.  And it turned out pretty yummy!
Time:  About 45 min. + 3 hr chill time
Enjoy!


Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 cookie sheets), divided
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons egg white
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Cooking spray

Filling:

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 3/4 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.

To prepare the crust, reserve 1 tablespoon crumbs for topping. Combine the remaining crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl, stirring well. Stir in egg white and butter. Press crumb mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 9 minutes or until lightly toasted; cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare filling, combine 1/2 cup sugar and the next 6 ingredients (through egg yolk) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place the milk in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until milk reaches 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge (do not boil). Gradually add hot milk to egg mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return milk mixture to pan; cook over medium heat 10 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; stir until smooth.

Place pan in a large ice-filled bowl for 10 minutes or until mixture cools, stirring occasionally. Spoon filling into crust, and cover surface of filling with plastic wrap. Chill for 3 hours or until set; remove plastic wrap. Spread the whipped topping over filling; sprinkle with reserved cracker crumbs.