Dolly Parton’s Decadent Chocolate Pie Review
Author’s Note: As per usual, these are my own salty opinions. No one paid me to write this review. I have no affiliation with either Dolly Parton’s or Publix.
Almost saltier than I am.
I don’t listen to Country Music, but I think Dolly Parton is cool. I was hoping I wouldn’t have too many terrible things to say about her frozen Decadent Chocolate Pie. Fortunately, I don’t.
In my mind, I’m referring to this as “Salty Fudge Pie.” And no one can stop me. That’s what it is now. I have decreed it.
This is probably thee SALTIEST pie I’ve ever had. I love salt, so I’m OK with this. I can see it being an issue for salt-sensitive individuals. It’s heckin’ salty.
The texture is thick, and (you guessed it!) fudgey. It’s sooo fudgey, it is a bit sticky. But, not in a completely bad way. I found the stickiness improves if you allow the pie to thoroughly thaw out, or even warm up to nearly room temperature.
(Looking for another “sticky” dessert? Perhaps you would enjoy my review of this imported British Sticky Figgy Pudding Cake.)
The flavors are delightfully rich. This is a strong-tasting pie. A little goes a long way.
I think if you fed this to me blind-folded, I might describe the flavor as “caramel.” I mean, there is definitely a chocolate overtone, but the buttery toasted-sugar caramel taste is quite palpable as well. I enjoyed it.
Aesthetically, the pie looks less mass produced than I expected. That’s not to say it looks completely hand-made (nothing like The Village Pie Maker aesthetics, that’s for sure), but does not look like robot food, either. The dusting of powdered sugar on top is a festive touch, and the crust has a slight irregularity that is pleasing.
Speaking of the crust, I don’t hate this crust. It’s flakey. And it’s not sweet — so it offers a pleasant, savory contrast to the very sweet chocolate filling. Unlike the filling, the crust doesn’t have obvious saltiness. However, it does have a rather brittle, stiff, mass-produced taste. It’s not a crust I would voluntarily eat without the reward of the “decadent” filling.
Party Food Idea
Because this pie is so rich, I tried cutting it into small squares for finger food. Kind of like a lemon bar, but make it “salted fudge” flavor. This actually worked pretty well. The crust is just a tad crumbly, so the squares aren’t razor clean, but otherwise, these hold together and serve neatly.
Honestly, they look homemade, which is a bonus. I also tried dressing them up with some festive garnishes, like pecan halves and whole dried cranberries.
This is where the stickiness of the pie comes in handy — those garnishes aren’t going anywhere, baby!
I liked the bite-size version of this pie better than the slices. I think the strength of the flavors and the saltiness and buttery-rich density lend itself more to finger-food nibbles than a whole pie slice.
Thawing and Serving Instructions
The directions said to let the whole pie thaw in the refrigerator (inside the plastic wrapping) for AT LEAST 30 minutes. This did not seem like nearly enough time for a fully frozen pie to thaw, but mine was ready to eat in less than an hour. So I guess it must be true.
This is not an easy pie to serve. The crust is brittle and falls apart with little provocation, and the filling is so sticky, the slices hug each other more tightly than families at an airport.
Fortunately, I realized most of the stickiness is either from the pie not being completely thawed out, or because it needs to warm up to nearly room temperature. The texture is more buttery, and less sticky, as it warms. So, my advice is to let it thaw out overnight in your refrigerator, and then let it sit out for 30 minutes or so before slicing and serving.
Ingredients in Dolly Parton’s Decadent Chocolate Pie
Here’s my best attempt at typing out the ingredients, from the label:
Filling:
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Butter (Cream, Salt)
- Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid)
- Cocoa Powder
- Margarine (Palm Oil, Soybean Oil, Water, Salt, Cultured Skim Milk, Nonfat Dry Milk, Mono- and Diglycerides, Soy Lecithin, Vitamin A Palmitate, Beta Carotene [Color], Natural Flavor)
- Contains less than 2% of: Water, Salt, Dextrose, Natural Flavors, Corn Starch, Palm Oil
Crust
- Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid)
- Soybean Oil and Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
- Water
- Contains less than 2% of: Dextrose, Salt, Dough Conditioner (Sodium Metabisulfite)
While I love seeing the simplicity of the first five ingredients, I was disappointed to see margarine and hydrogenated soybean oil rear their ugly heads. I was also bummed to see “Sodium Metabisulfite,” as this is a sulfite, and unfortunately I am sensitive to sulfites.
Nutrition Facts in Decadent Chocolate Pie by Dolly Parton
Wowzers, buckle up, my friends. This is a very calorie-dense dessert! This is a potential diet-wrecker, for sure.
A serving is 1/6 a pie and contains a staggering 510 calories. There are 30 grams of fat and 33 grams of sugar (all of which is “added sugar”) per slice, plus a modest 5 grams of protein.
There’s 20% of your daily value of sodium per serving. Honestly, it tastes like more than that. Have I mentioned how salty this pie is? It is salty.
Now, fortunately, you can easily get more than six servings from this pie. In fact, for me, it was at least 10 servings. That’s because the pie is so rich and dense. So, serving smaller pieces could dramatically improve the amount of sugar, fat, and sodium per slice.
Price and Servings
The 21.6 ounce pie cost $10.99 at my local Publix. Since there are 6 servings per pie, each serving is $1.83. Per ounce, this dessert costs about 51 cents.
I got my pie during a BOGO sale, so that reduced the price to about 92 cents per serving. Huzzah!
Shelf Life
The “best-by” date for my frozen pie allowed me about a year to consume.
Dramatic Conclusion
Not sure if I’d buy another one of these or not, but it was fun to try. The flavors are rich and (indeed!) decadent. No lie. I loved the saltiness, although I’m not sure everyone would. The sticky texture is improved by allowing the pie to warm up to room temperature. It’s a fair price per serving, but not an eye-popping value. Unless you wait for a BOGO sale, like I did. And then it’s a pretty “sweet” price!
The End.
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