Chocolate Pecan Pie

    When I first began hosting our family's Thanksgiving meal a few years ago, I chose pecan pie as my first pie to master.  I then moved on to pumpkin pie because, well, you can't have Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie.  Usually I would make a fresh apple cake as well but last year my sister convinced me to make an apple pie instead because, as she said, Thanksgiving calls for pies.  After making all three last year and seeing them side by side on the dessert table, I decided she was definitely right about this.  There is no going back now and so that just means I have to work in my favorite apple cake at some other point during the fall.

     My dad loves pecan pie so that's why I started with this one.  Luckily for Dad, he lives with my mom who is an incredible cook so the man knows good food.  He rarely requests for me to make him anything in particular so it always makes me happy to bake a pecan pie for him.

   Let's talk about the crust for a minute, shall we?  If you have been following my blog from the beginning, you know how I feel about store bought crusts.  If you haven't tried to make one from scratch yet, now is the time!  Our pilgrim ancestors are begging you to just attempt it once, as am I.  You can find the step-by-step instructions here.   I will admit, however, that every now and then I use some frozen mini pie shells that come in a red box (I have no idea what the name of these are) and they actually work great for this recipe.  If you really, really, really believe that a frozen or a roll-out crust is worth eating, you could certainly use one.  Just don't blame me when your pie doesn't taste as good as mine!  

   This recipe comes from The America's Test Kitchen Baking Book which is also where my pie crust recipe comes from.  I love this cookbook with my heart and soul.

    See how much they love a good pie crust?  It's right on the cover!

Chocolate Pecan Pie (click for printable version)

1 crust for a single pie (fitted into a 9" pie pan and placed in the freezer for 30 minutes)

3 T. butter (I always use salted)
3/4 C. dark brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs
1/2 C. light corn syrup
1 t. vanilla extract
1 C. pecans, toasted and chopped coarsely
1/2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. milk chocolate chips (or you can just use 1 C. semi-sweet if you like darker chocolate)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line the chilled pie crust with aluminum foil and fill with pie weights (if you don't have pie weights, you can use pennies since they won't touch the surface of the crust directly).  Place on rack that is in the middle of the oven.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust looks a little dry and slightly pale in color.  

Move the oven rack down to to the lower middle position and lower heat to 275 degrees.  

Begin working on the filling while the crust is baking because the crust needs to be right out of the oven and hot when you pour the filling in.  Heat a large skillet with water that is barely below a simmer and melt butter in a heatproof glass bowl set in the skillet filled with water.  

Take the bowl with the melted butter out of the skillet and off the heat.  Stir in the sugar and salt until well mixed with the melted butter.  Quickly whisk in the eggs followed by the corn syrup and the vanilla.  Place the bowl back in the skillet of simmering water and stir constantly until the mixture is hot to the touch and looks shiny.  If you are using a thermometer, the temperature should reach 130 degrees.  

Remove the bowl from the heat and quickly stir in the pecans.  Pour the pecan mixture directly over the hot pie crust after removing the foil layer and the pie weights.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips on the top and press with a spoon.

Place the pie on a baking sheet and return it to the oven.  Bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until the back of a wooden spoon pressed on to the pie makes it feel slightly like Jello.  Allow the pie to cool for 2 hours on a wire rack.  Serve slightly warm or cold.

The pie can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for up to one day.