Saturday, October 8, 2016

Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie

Ahhh, pie.  Is there anything more amazing than your favorite pie?  Americans have gone absolutely crazy, inventing ridiculous designer pies for all sorts of occasions.  I tend to enjoy the classic pies, Apple, Blueberry, etc, but once in awhile, a modern designer pie grabs my attention and I think, "Now, THAT sounds delicious!"

With that being said, I'll offer a more modern designer pie, "Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie," or what my friend Mark calls, "Bourbo-Choco-Peco-Madness!"

Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Madness


A quick word about pie crust; While I believe that a properly homemade pie crust is superior in flakyness, tenderness, and appearance, I do not believe that it is superior enough to go through the tedious process of creating one from scratch.  In my own personal blind taste tests, I pick the homemade crust every time, but I'm simply not prepared to invest the time and effort to "cube cold butter" and to "rest the dough in the refrigerator," etc.  This recipe calls for "Frozen 9-inch deep dish pie crusts" and I believe the filling is so fantastic, that nobody (except for perhaps your Grandmother) will mention your lack of pie crust effort.

For the Chocolate Bourbon Pecan pie, you will need:
  • 3 eggs + 1 egg yolk
  • 1 Cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 Cup light corn syrup
  • 1/2 Cup dark corn syrup
  • 1/4 Cup bourbon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon bread flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1-1/2 Cups Chopped Pecans
  • 1/3 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips (I prefer Ghirardelli) 
  • 1/3 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips (75%)

A word of caution about this particular recipe... Pecan pies are notorious for their ability to look perfectly set and awesome on the outside, while staying unset and gooey on the inside.  You'll notice the small amount of flour and the extra egg yolk to bring some protein to the mix that should help solve this problem.  Bread flour has a lot more protein strings than regular flour, so use it if you can.  In any case, you'll want to pay particularly close attention to the quantity of the ingredients here, do not use more or less than what is described, and be sure to bake it the full amount of time.

Preheat your oven to 350, and take the frozen pie crust out of the freezer to thaw.  Spray some "Pam" inside of your measuring cup, so the syrup will pour out quickly and easily.  Dump your eggs (and yolks) into the bowl, turn on your mixer and get the party started... When the eggs are thoroughly mixed and bright yellow, measure exactly 1/2 cup of dark syrup and 1/2 cup of light syrup into your mixing bowl. While the mixer is turning and burning, add the bourbon, and then add the dark brown sugar, a little bit at a time.  Go slowly, you want it all to dissolve.  Drink a shot of the Bourbon in the meantime, you know, for... "fortification and courage."  Sprinkle in the flour.  Add the vanilla.  Pour in the butter and a pinch of salt, then give it a final twirl in the mixer.

Place the Pecans and the Chocolate into the pie crust first, making sure they're distributed evently.  Then spoon the pie goop over the morsels carefully, until you get to the brim of the crust.  You may have pie goop left over, no biggy!   Place the pie onto a cookie sheet in case it boils over, and then pop it into the oven for 50 minutes to an hour.  Remove the pie and let it set up for another hour or so, before parking it in the fridge.  Here's my after pic of the Chocolate Bourbon Pecan pie:



1 comment:

  1. The sign of a good recipe is if just reading it makes the viewer's mouth water. It sounds fantastic!

    ReplyDelete

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