thanksgiving rewind: chocolate pecan pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie In our household baking is not my purview. It’s not that I’m not capable of it, but rather that my wife really enjoys it. From time to time I’ll help with measuring out ingredients and whatnot while she assembles and does the hard work.

When it came time to choose the dessert portion of our holiday meal we had considered going with the old standby of apple pie. I don’t like pumpkin pie and as much as I love pecan pie the standard configuration would surely wreak havoc on my blood sugar.

However, a friend of ours came over for dinner one night before Thanksgiving and told us about this recipe she found on Whole Foods Market’s website for a chocolate pecan pie that didn’t use a lot of sugar. Intrigued, we looked up the recipe and determined that it was certainly a solid option to do something new for Thanksgiving.

We made a few modifications to the recipe in that we used a mix of baking chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate. Also, we substituted brown sugar for agave nectar, which has been a great find considering my lingering sweet tooth despite my diabetes diagnosis.

For the first run at a recipe the results were great and we will surely be making this again.

chocolate pecan pie

adapted from this Whole Foods Market recipe

hardware

9 in pie pan
large and medium mixing bowls
whisk and spatula
parchment paper or aluminum foil
pie weights or a package of dry beans

software

1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust
4 squares (or 4 ounces) baking chocolate
4 squares (or 4 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup+ 1 tablespoon agave nectar*
2 eggs
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups chopped pecans

* you can use 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar as the original recipe called for instead

assemblage

preheat oven to 350 degrees
line pan with pie crust, then cover with parchment paper or aluminum foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans
bake pie crust for 10-12 minutes, then remove from oven and allow to cool
reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees
melt the chocolate and butter in medium mixing bowl
combine agave nectar, eggs, vanilla and pecans in large mixing bowl
stir chocolate mixture into large mixing bowl, then pour into pre-baked pie crust
bake until set in the middle, approximately 50 to 60 minutes
be sure to check on the pie as it bakes and cover the crust with foil or pie shield to prevent burning

presentation

When it came time to serve the pie we decorated the edges of the pie with some piped on homemade whipped cream. Then, we served our pie up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

Chocolate Pecan Pie