Chocolate Pecan Pie Recipe

Servings: 8

1½ oz bittersweet chocolate
2 1/4 cups pecans
1 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (cold)
4 1/2 tbsp water (cold)
3 tbsp. butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 eggs
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 orange
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Flour (for dusting)
Butter (for greasing)
Whipped cream (for serving)

Large bowl
Plastic wrap
Oven
Rolling pin
Pie dish (9 in)
Knife
Freezer
Aluminum foil
Pie weights
Saucepan
Rubber spatula
Cutting board
Whisk
Fine grater

Add flour, half of the salt, sugar, and cold, cubed butter to a large bowl. Use hands to coat butter with flour and crumble into almond-sized pieces. Add cold water and continue to mix, adding more cold water as needed to form a shaggy dough.

Flour a work surface, turn dough out, and form the dough into a flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hr.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Unwrap chilled dough and lightly flour work surface. Roll out dough into a circle slightly larger than the pie dish. Transfer dough to pie dish and press gently to fit bottom and sides. Trim as needed and fold excess dough under itself at the crust. Crimp the edges as desired. Prick base all over with a fork, then freeze the crust for at least 20 min. Cover the pie crust with greased aluminum foil and fill with pie weights. Blind bake for approx. 20 min., then remove pie weights and continue to bake for 10 min. more, or until the crust just starts to brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.

While the crust cools, add room temperature butter to a saucepan over medium heat. Add chocolate and stir until melted and combined, then remove from heat. Toast pecans then roughly chop, leaving some whole for decoration. Add brown sugar, maple syrup, eggs, remaining salt, and ground cinnamon to a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add chocolate-butter mixture, fresh orange zest, vanilla extract, and chopped toasted pecans, and stir to combine.

Transfer filling to baked crust and decorate with whole pecans. Bake at 350°F for approx. 40 min., or until the filling is firm to the touch but jiggles slightly. If needed, tent pie with aluminum foil to prevent the crust from getting too brown before the filling finishes baking. Remove from the oven and let cool. Serve with whipped cream and enjoy!