According to Jeff, Creamy Chocolate Pie topped with whipping cream is a holiday tradition (make that any holiday, birthday, special occasion, etc.).  But growing up in Texas, instead of a chocolate pie, you almost always found a pecan pie next to a pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Pecan pie combines the luscious sugary filling with crunchy pecans all in a buttery, flaky crust!  Is your mouth watering yet?  If you love sugar and pecans like I do, I bet it is 🙂

While this recipe can be used to make a traditional pecan pie, I decided to make a jazzed up version this time with some of my favorite add-ins—chocolate, coconut and a little bourbon!  But, if you are the traditional type, just leave out the add-ins and if you prefer, substitute a teaspoon of vanilla extract for the tablespoon of Bourbon.  Either way, this is an easy recipe.

You need to start with a 9-inch unbaked pie crust (not graham cracker).  You can purchase a pre-made pie crust or make your own. For my favorite pie crust recipe, click here.  Then you need to place the pecans in the bottom of the unbaked crust.  In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, dark corn syrup, sugar, Bourbon (or pure vanilla extract) and melted butter.

Now it is time to add the chocolate and coconut to the egg and sugar mixture.  The first time I tested this recipe, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips and pre-shredded, sweetened coconut.  I wasn’t very happy with either choice.  Because of the stabilizers in the chocolate chips, the chips were just too hard in the finished pie.  Then I made another pie using good quality bars of chocolate that I chopped into small pieces.  The result was much better.    The problem with the coconut was that the finished pie had some long, somewhat tough strands of coconut.  To fix that problem, when I made another pie, I measured out the right amount of shredded coconut and placed it on a cutting board.  Then with a chef’s knife, I chopped the coconut into smaller pieces.  I thought this worked out much better too.  And besides this meant we got two pecans pies to try!

Once all the ingredients were combined, I gently poured the mixture into the pie crust.  The pecans on the bottom of the crust slowly start to rise to the top of the pie.

This pie needs to bake for quite a while, so I like to protect the edge of the crust from the beginning to keep it from getting too dark or burning.  The easiest way to do this is to create a ring of aluminum foil to gently lay on top of the pie.  The photo below showed the ring of foil sitting on top of the baked pie.

To create the ring of foil, start with a square piece of foil about 10-12 inches wide.  Fold it in half (across the blue vertical line shown in the drawing below) to make a rectangle.

Then fold the rectangle in half again across the blue horizontal line shown in the drawing below.

You will end up with a small square as shown below.

Now for the most important part.  Carefully tear or cut away the blue area shown in the diagram below.

Then when you unfold the foil, you will have a foil rim with a hole in the middle.

Gently place this foil rim over your pie so that it just covers the top edge of the pie crust.  Bake the pie at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, and then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake it for an additional 35-40 minutes. During the last 10-15 minutes, I removed the foil “rim” and placed a square piece of foil over the entire pie to prevent the top from getting too brown.  When the pie was just barely set in the middle, I removed it from the oven and set it on a rack to fully cool.  When it is cooled, drizzle a little melted semisweet chocolate on top.

Then I refrigerated it to make sure it was fully set.  You can serve the pie cold, at room temperature or slightly warmed (just heat it for a few seconds in the microwave).  A little whipping cream is always a good addition.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Coconut Bourbon Pecan Pie
 
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If you want a plain pecan pie, just omit the shredded coconut and chopped chocolate. You can also substitute vanilla extract for the Bourbon.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 6-8 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 cup pecan halves (make that a slightly overflowing cup)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup dark corn syrup
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • 1 Tbsp. flour
  • 2 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped (optional) (plus extra chocolate for drizzling on top)
  • ½ cup (packed) shredded coconut flakes (optional)
  • 1-2 Tbsp. Bourbon or 1 tsp. vanilla extract (if you use 2 Tbsp,, the Bourbon flavor is strong)
  • ⅛ tsp. salt
  • 1 9-inch unbaked pie crust
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Place pecans in the bottom of the unbaked pie crust
  3. Melt the butter
  4. Chop the chocolate into pieces just smaller than chocolate chips.
  5. Place the coconut flakes on a cutting board and chop them to break up any longs strands of coconut or place the coconut in a food processor and pulse 2 or 3 times.
  6. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs.
  7. Add the dark corn syrup, sugar, butter, bourbon and salt to the eggs. Mix until combined. A whisk works well.
  8. Stir the chocolate and coconut into the egg mixture until combined.
  9. Gently pour the mixture over the pecans in the unbaked pie crust
  10. Cover the edge of the pie crust with foil to keep it from burning
  11. Bake the pie at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes
  12. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for 35-40 minutes. Lay a piece of foil over the entire pie during the last 10-15 minutes if it looks like the top is getting too brown.
  13. Remove the pie from the oven and set it on a rack to fully cool.
  14. When cool, drizzle melted chocolate on top, if desired.
  15. Refrigerate the pie until fully set.

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