General Comments:

So, I’m going to try and keep this post short and sweet (though I’m not sure I’m capable of such a thing) because I am back-logged on posting my baking conquests. Hopefully if I slam out a couple few posts, I can get back on track.

This pie was one of my earliest baking adventures. I stumbled across it while scanning through the recipes on use real butter -- which, by the way, produced by a Colorado local seeking to perfect high altitude baking. The title alone was enough to grab my attention: chocolate. espresso. pecan pie. Didn’t really have to think twice about this one. At any rate, this pie turned out great. For those of you who might normally shy away from pecan pie because its just “too sugary," I think you should give this one a shot -- assuming you like chocolate and espresso. To me, the bitterness of the chocolate and the espresso serves to balance out the standard sweetness of a traditional pecan pie. This is one of my creations that never made it into the office, but can you blame me? Pies are clearly too small to share with more than a handful of people -- maybe next time I’ll make two.

Baker’s Notes:

Not much to note here, the recipe was rather straightforward. However, because I was lazy and wanted to save time (and I wasn’t yet confident in my baking abilities), I used a store-bought crust by Pillsbury. It did the trick, but the crust was definitely the weakest part of the pie. Oh also, I was somewhat shocked by it, but you really do put the pecans in before the filling and they float to the top all on their own -- crazy!

Recipe:

Filling Ingredients:

3 oz (85g) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 oz (60g) unsalted butter
4 large eggs
1 cup (330g) light corn syrup
1 cup (225g) sugar
1/4 tsp (2g) kosher salt
2 tbsps (6g) instant espresso powder
1 tbsp hot water
2 tbsps (30g) coffee liqueur
2 cups (230g) pecans, lightly toasted, coarsely chopped
1/2 (60g) cup perfect pecan halves

Directions:

• Prepare your pre-brought pie crust (you’re so lazy) by following the instructions on the box.
• Melt chocolate and butter over gentle heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, and salt.
• Dissolve the instant espresso in 1 tbsp of hot water.
• Add the chocolate, espresso, and coffee liqueur to the egg mixture and whisk to blend.
• Sprinkle the chopped pecans into the pie shell and arrange the pecan halves along the edge of the pie, but on top of the pieces.
• Pour the filling over the center of the pie. If the pecan halves begin to bandy about, just position them where you want them by hand.
• Bake the pie until the filling puffs, about 45 to 55 minutes (I think it took mine somewhere around 50 minutes). Also, after about 25 minutes, I took the pie out and put a foil ring over the crust so as to prevent the crust from over cooking.
• Transfer to a rack and allow to cool completely.
• You can refrigerate the pie for several hours making it easier to serve.

Credit: Pretty much directly followed this recipe, but skipped the crust making part.

Tags: pie, recipe, pecans, chocolate, espresso