Wow your significant other, wow your family, or wow your friends with this splurge. The chocolate pecan pie is perfect for the Thanksgiving table or a simple dinner party.
Cooking is like a chemistry class. Balance the elements and you get the results you want.
John Buck says it is okay to eat ice cream, just don’t eat it every day.
I say when you splurge, do it well.
To make this taste like something your grandmother made when you were a child, use the freshest, most natural, local ingredients that you can find.
That means:
–buy pecans along the highway around Okmulgee or get them from a friend with pecan trees.
–use local eggs if you can find them
–use quality vanilla, unsalted butter that is organic and contains no growth hormones.
–buy the best quality chocolate that speaks to you and that you feel comfortable buying.
Chocolate Pecan Pie:
This is basically a standard pecan pie with reduced cane sugar, a better crust, and good quality chocolate.
Ingredients:
1 deep dish pie crust (9″)
Fresh or bought. If you buy one, whether regular or whole wheat, buy something other than hydrogenated lard. Butter not lard. When possible buy your pie shells early. Stores typically run out a few days before holidays.
2 Tablespoons Butter
(Unsalted, Horizon, Melissa’s, or other organic-GMO butter)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 Eggs (large, cage free, white or brown or blue. It is amazing how many people have chickens.)
1 Cup Karo light corn syrup
1/2 to 3/4 Cane Sugar
Salt (a pinch of sea salt will be fine.)
1-1/2 Cups Pecans
Halves are the ideal but pieces are okay. Buy local and avoid the little plastic packages because we want fresher, juicer pecans.
1/2 cup Chocolate
(Hershey’s morsels, Ghiradelli unsweetened, or ideally Scharffen Berger unsweetened)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Melt butter in a saucepan. Not a microwave but use a stove. Stir slowly.
3. Stir in chocolate. Melt slowly. Stir with a wooden spoon.
4. Crack the three eggs into a bowl. Stir/ beat with a knife or fork.
5. In a bowl, pour in the sugar, Karo syrup, and vanilla extract. Empty the saucepan of butter and chocolate into the bowl. Stir all of this with a wooden spoon. Mix thoroughly.
6. Add the pecans to the above bowl. Stir gently with a wooden spoon.
7. Pour into the pie crust.
Place in the center of your oven. Cook for 60 minutes.
When the pie rises into a dome and starts to brown, insert a toothpick or a knife into the center of the pie. If it comes out clean then the pie is done.
(If your oven runs hot then put strips of foil over the crust for the first 45 minutes. If you have an older gas oven, look in the oven at the 30 minute mark and if one side is cooking faster then rotate the pie.)
Remove pie and place on a cooling rack.
Place in a ziplock bag and store in the refrigerator for a day or two. Otherwise, freeze it.
Notes:
(1) If you make more than one pie, please mix the ingredients one pie at a time. If you double the recipe and mix everything in a bowl then divide into two pie pans, the pies will not come out correctly. It’s about chemistry. I usually mix ingredients for a few pies, one pie at a time and keep them in separate bowls on the kitchen counter or in the refrigerator then pour the batter into a shell just before baking. I usually bake one pie at a time.
Richard L. Phillips is President/Owner of Designs with Intention. Mr. Phillips’ attention to detail, his thoughtfulness, and his commitment to excellence is an aspiration to all that work with him at Forge.
