Chocolate Pecan Pie!!!

We had Thanksgiving with my hubby’s dad’s family this year, and we were all supposed to bring either a pie or a side dish. And this was mine! Pecan pie is my absolute favorite kind of pie, and this just looked too yummy to pass up. It’s from Tyler Florence, on Food Network, who I usually don’t like that much, but this is soooo good!

It’s very rich, and very bad for you, but oh so yummy! And the way I see it, we have Thanksgiving once a year, and I’m going to make and enjoy something fancy, dang it! That’s what I always loved about Thanksgiving.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup finely ground pecans
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small chunks
2 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the butter chunks.

Using a pastry blender, or your hands, incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients. I
prefer to use my hands, just make sure that your hands are completely dry before 
you start. This is about halfway through.

The mixture should look like coarse crumbs without any solid pieces of butter left. 

Add the ice water, 1 tbsp at a time. Combine with your hands until the mixture binds
together, but isn’t too wet or sticky. 1 tbsp of water was plenty for me. Make into a ball,
cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes (no longer).

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough. I’m not going to go any more in
depth with this process. It didn’t exactly go well. All you have to know is that I got the
crust into the pie pan. Doesn’t matter how =) (by the way, you could easily use your own crust recipe for this, and it would probably turn out much better)



Arrange 2 cups of pecans on the bottom of the pie crust.

While the dough is chilling, get the rest of the ingredients ready to go.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Melt the butter and chocolate slowly over the stove, just until melted. Let it cool. While
it’s cooling, beat the eggs in a bowl until frothy. Beat in the sugar. Then beat in the rest
of ingredients, adding the chocolate/butter mixture last, and only when it’s cool enough.

Carefully pour the filling, slowly, over the pecans. Try to use all of it, but if your pie pan is rather shallow, you may not use it all.

Carefully transfer the pie to a preheated 350 degree oven (the filling will slosh around,
so be careful!) Bake for 45 min. Turn off the oven, but leave the pie in
there for another fifteen minutes. Remove the pie, and let it sit for at least at least an hour before serving. Best if it sits overnight, so the filling can completely solidify.

SOOOO delicious! If this is too fancy for the regular Thanksgiving spread, it would work
great for a special Christmas party or dinner party during the holidays. With a dollop of
whipped cream (the real kind), you are good to go!

Any ideas on how to lighten it up???