Easy as Pie

Easy as pie; I don't know what this means. There are things in life easier than pie. There are certainly things easier to bake than pie, like break-and-bake cookies. It must refer to the ease one would have in convincing me to eat this:



The questions is not whether or not you are a chocolate person. The questions is what kind of chocolate person are you: nuts-n-chocolate, mint chocolate, fruit and chocolate, chocolate-coated caramel, chocolate and coconut, dark, white...shall I go on? As for me, I am usually a minty kind of girl...york peppermint patties...junior mints...there are some exceptions:



Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie.

I saw those words all in the same recipe title, and I had to have it. This recipe was a finalist this year in the Good Morning America "Best Slice" contest. I have always been drawn towards deserts that are spiked with a type of alcohol that I would never drink on its own. The restaurant where I used to work served a warm chocolate bread pudding in a hot bourbon sauce. My Aunt Janet's rum cake is always something to look forward to every Christmas.

This was no exception. It was a hit at Thanksgiving dinner (i.e. Zach and I both liked it and said "mmmmmm"), but it was an even bigger hit the next day after it had spent the night in the cold harsh conditions of the refrigerator. Some friends of ours came to spend the rest of Thanksgiving weekend with us at the Palm Springs house-of-my-dreams where we were staying. I served up some of that pie, and I got some great quotes followed by "and you can quote me." I am sorry to say I do not remember those quotes, but maybe you can come up with your own when you make this because you definitely should. It is so easy, the first pie I have ever made. I did not make the crust myself even though there is a recipe for it. I thought the pie would be much more difficult to make and I didn't want to give myself so much room for error. Marie Calendars makes an amazing frozen pie crust (it come in a pie tin ready to go with instructions on what to do to make any type of pie).

You Can Quote Me Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

(Recipe from Michele's Pies in Norwalk, Connecticut)

10" piecrust (I used frozen Marie Calendars)
3 large eggs, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 ¼ cups dark corn syrup
½ tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon (the recipe calls for 1...I added extra)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and kept warm
1 ½ cup chopped pecans
¾ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350
Place the eggs, sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and Bourbon in a bowl and mix. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl at least two times while mixing. Add the warm butter. Mix well. Combine the pecans and chocolate chips and sprinkle them on the bottom of the pie shell.



Pour the filling over the nuts and chips.
Place the pie on the baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the 350 degree oven and bake it for 30 minutes. The edges of the filling will rise, but the middle will still be a little bouncy. However, the pie will continue to bake after it is removed from the oven. To set up and have it firm enough to slice, give the pie 2 to 3 hours of cooling at room temperature, or a half hour of cooling at room temperature and an hour in the refrigerator.

Pie Crust:
2 cups flour
1 Tsp salt
½ cup Crisco

Mix flour and salt together. Then add the Crisco. Mix gently until crumbly. Add 1 Tbls. of icewater at a time. Mix after each addition. Mix until forms a ball. Chill dough ½ hour before rolling.