Chocolate Pecan Pie

Chocolate pecan pie disappears quickly!

Imagine a pecan pie and a brownie had a baby, and that’s pretty much what this pie is. It is a Thanksgiving staple in our family, and it’s one of the reasons this blog is in existence.

This pie came to be because one Thanksgiving early in our marriage my husband asked me why my family never ate pecan pie at Thanksgiving, which was always part of the Thanksgiving meal for him growing up. I said I didn’t know, and told him I had never really had pecan pie before. So I made one for him. But I was surprised by the gelatinous syrupy sweetness the pecans were suspended in. “Is this right?” I asked, dubiously. He assured me that it was. The next year I created this recipe which adds dark chocolate to balance out the sweetness of the filling. Plus, I find Thanksgiving to have a surprising lack of chocolate on the table, so this seems like a good remedy for that.

Over the years this pie was continuously requested by my family, but I often ran into problems. A few times we were traveling for Thanksgiving and I had forgotten to bring the recipe, so I had to recreate it on the fly. Another time I strangely could not find the recipe and also had to re-invent the pie from scratch (I ended up finding the recipe a week later, of course).

So, here’s the recipe, available on the internet so that I can make it anytime and anywhere I need to. And so can you!

Yield: 12 servings

Author: don't eat THE PLATE (www.donteattheplate.com)

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Chocolate Pecan Pie

This fudgy chocolate pecan pie is a cross between a brownie and a pecan pie. You might want to make two, because it will disappear quickly (I always do)!

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 1 H & 5 MInactive time: 1 H & 30 MTotal time: 2 H & 55 M

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, chilled and cut into about 16 pieces
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup cold water

Filling

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
• 4.5 oz dark chocolate (I use Ghirardelli 60% cacao chocolate chips)
• 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Instructions

To prepare the crust:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor.
3. Add butter and pulse 3 times, then process for 5-10 seconds until mixture has pea-sized crumbles.
4. With food processor running, slowly pour water in and let it run just until a ball of dough forms.
5. Roll dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour to 3 days.
6. Roll dough out to 1/8" thick circle on a lightly floured surface.
7. Place dough in pie pan, cover with parchment paper and pie weights (or dry beans) and blind bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and remove pie weights when they've cooled enough that you won't get burned.

For the filling:

1. Reduce oven to 350 degrees
2. Heat butter and chocolate in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Stir often until the butter and chocolate melt and combine. Remove from heat, transfer to a medium bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
3. With a stand mixer or hand mixer, mix in brown sugar, corn syrup and vanilla for a few minutes into lighter in color. Add eggs and mix until combined.
4. Fold in pecans and pour mixture into pre-baked pie shell.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes, until center no longer jiggles when shaken.
6. Place pie pan on wire rack and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes.

Notes

1) If you don't have a food processor, you can make crust by combining flour, sugar and salt, then cutting the butter in with a pastry cutter or a knife. Add cold water and stir with a fork to combine.

2) Pastry dough can be stored in the fridge for 3 days or in the freezer for 2 months. Just make sure it is tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in a zip top plastic or silicone bag.