The Entrepreneurial Insights podcast kicked off season 4 with a live taping of a presentation on “Going to Market”. The podcast features Kiamesha Wilson (Kaye’s Pints & Scoops), Randy Stepherson (Superlo Foods – Stepherson’s) and Art Seessel, formerly of Seessel’s Supermarket. These veteran entrepreneurs shared some excellent insight on the ins and outs of “going to market” with products successfully. We hope that you enjoy the show.
Recipe for Seessel’s Chocolate Butter Pie, Reprinted from The Daily Memphian, January 22, 2023
Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon fine salt (see notes)
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk powder
6 squares Ghirardelli 100% cacao unsweetened chocolate bar (see notes)
1 stick unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons hot water
2 large eggs
Pie crust pastry, store-bought, or use pie crust recipe that follows
Directions
Blend the sugar, cornstarch, salt and dry milk powder; set aside.
Break chocolate bar in pieces as marked, put in bowl with butter and melt in microwave on butter or chocolate setting if your microwave has them. Otherwise, use power setting 2 or 3 and microwave two to four minutes until melted. Stir well.
Blend vanilla, sweetened condensed milk and hot water. Microwave to 160 degrees (use an instant-read thermometer), about 30-60 seconds.
Mix eggs, but don’t whip. Add sweetened condensed milk mixture to eggs. Add chocolate; blend, then add to dry ingredients and mix on low speed until fully blended.
Place pie crust in a 9-inch pan and pour in mix.
Bake at 360 degrees for 30-45 minutes, depending on your oven. The pie will start to form a thin chocolate film on top. Check doneness by inserting a toothpick in center of pie. If it pulls out clean, the pie is baked. If it’s wet, bake a little longer.
Notes: The recipe is accurate as printed, but here are two tips. Jennifer Biggs uses about half the amount of salt, and Art Seessel thinks that five squares of chocolate is sufficient. These are taste preferences and won’t affect the integrity of the pie. Makes one 9-inch pie.
Seessel’s Pie Dough
Ingredients
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
11 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon nonfat dry milk powder
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 medium whole egg
Directions
Mix flour and butter together until it forms pea-size balls.
Mix baking powder, salt, powdered sugar and milk powder.
Mix vanilla and eggs, then add everything together and mix only until dough comes together in one mass and sides of bowl are clean.
Roll out pie dough into a circle (about 1/8” thick), fold dough in half, place onto half of the pie pan, fold the other half over the rest of pie pan, carefully pat the dough into the bottom and around the edges, then crimp into any form you desire.
Dough should set in pan one hour before filling and is best used fresh.
Note: If you refrigerate the dough (it will hold two to three days) or freeze it, store it in a Ziploc freezer bag and bring it to room temperature before using. Makes one pie crust
