Mom's Eggnog Christmas Pie

Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 8 egg yolks
• 4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 (1 ounce) packages knox unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 ounces rum (2 jiggers)
• 2 tablespoons rum flavoring
• 8 egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup shaved hershey's chocolate candy bar
• 2 (8 -10 inch) oronoque orchards frozen pie crusts

Recipe

• 1 separate 8 large or extra large eggs into yolks and whites [i prefer to scrupulously detach/remove the thingum in each egg, which is tedious].
• 2 the best way to do this is to hold one yolk in your hand, letting its drip into a bowl; as you put the yolk into a yolks bowl, pull off any stuff; rinse your hands and towel dry; remove any stuff from the egg in a bowl with a spoon or by hand; put the into the whites bowl -- this way, if some yolk gets into its , you can set that egg aside without getting some yolk into all of the other whites and having to start over!
• 3 refrigerate whites [making sure there is no embryonic material in this].
• 4 beat egg yolks with a fork or whisk and add them to the milk and sugar and salt in a 2-3 quart saucepan.
• 5 continue on a low boil until the mixture thickens some, stirring constantly.
• 6 take the egg-milk mixture off the stove.
• 7 add 2 packages of gelatin dissolved into 1/4 cup water.
• 8 add 2-3 jiggers of rum and rum flavoring, to taste [you can omit the rum for children].
• 9 cover and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
• 10 the next day, remove the egg whites from the refrigerate and let warm to room temperature.
• 11 prick pie shells with a fork and prebake.
• 12 set the shells aside to cool.
• 13 whip the 8 egg whites with 1/2 cup sugar until very stiff.
• 14 set aside.
• 15 whip the egg-milk custard mixture until very fluffy.
• 16 whip the 1/2 cup heavy cream.
• 17 fold the whipped cream into the whipped egg-milk custard mixture.
• 18 fold the stiff egg whites into the custard mixture.
• 19 turn out into cooled pie shells.
• 20 grate the hershey's chocolate bar over both pies.
• 21 refrigerate until ready to serve.
• 22 [you can use red food coloring to turn the filling pink and you can also top with a layer of additional whipped cream].
• 23 also you can substitute 2-3 ounces of bourbon for the rum.
• 24 for children, you can just use rum flavoring - but often the kids like the hint of liquor.