On the day I turned 16 and a half, my Daddy presented me with a beautiful book by Alice Medrich - it's all about how to cook with higher percentage cocoa/higher quality chocolate while preserving that gorgeous chocolate flavour and enhancing the subtleties of the chocolate or cocoa used... Needless to say, I LOVED it! And still do...
The following recipe for Sinful Chocolate, Pecan and Bourbon Pie is adapted from that gorgeous book...
Unfortunately this photo doesn't do the pie any justice AT ALL... It's amazing - crunchy toasted pecans, smooth chocolate binding and smokey bourbon pastry that somehow manages to retain that alcoholic tang despite baking... Mmm! Mmm! Mmm! This pie is to die for!
-- Just as an aside, I'm off to India in a couple of days... I'm not sure how reliably I'll be able to blog while I'm away - I'll do my best! But fear not, I'll back in full swing for the New Year... In the mean time, I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season and an exceptional New Year, Love from Kat--
Recipe follows the jump... (trust me, you want to read this one!)
You'll need:
For the pastry--
1 1/2 cups white flour
125g salted butter, cut into cubes
4-5 Tbsp bourbon, from the freezer
Blitz the flour and butter in a food processor until the mix resembles wet sand. (If you don't have a food processor - which I don't when I'm not at home... You can grate the butter and then rub it into the flour for the same, if slightly more work intensive result...)
Then pour in 3 Tbsp of the ice cold bourbon and bizz-izz again... If the pastry starts to form at this point - all good, otherwise slowly add the next 2 Tbsp of bourbon just until a stiff dough is formed - you don't want it to be too sticky!
Now, wrap the pastry in cling-film and bung it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes (I left mine over night, but Alice says you can leave it for up to 3 days... Or a week and a half, if you're me, woops...)...
Once the dough has rested in the fridge, pull it out and allow it to come to a temperature in which it'll roll without cracking... Meanwhile grease your pie dish - 9" is best... Then, on a lightly floured surface, roll it until it's approximately 5mm thick and big enough to fit your pie dish with overhang! Carefully set the pastry into the pie dish and fold the excess pastry back into the crust so that the outer edge with be slightly thicker. Now, put the pastry back into the fridge for at least another 30 minutes!
(You'll blind bake the pastry after you toast the nuts, which is what's coming next...)
For the filling--
500g pecan halves
75g dark chocolate
1/4 cup golden syrup
15g salted butter, melted
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp bourbon
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
(While the pastry shell is in the fridge...) Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. Spread the pecan halves on a baking sheet and bake for 6-9 minutes, or until a slightly darker brown and they're beginning to smell toasty.
Now, increase the oven temperature to 200 degrees C and allow to come to temperature...
Cover the pastry with tin foil (shiny side down) and allow to overlay the edge without actually touching the outer crust. Prick the bottom of the pastry shell through the tin foil all over and fill with dried beans, or pie weights.
Bake the crust for 20 minutes with the foil and weights and for 10 minutes (or until golden) without. Now, mine puffed up A LOT despite my weighing it down AND pricking it loads... So make sure you've rolled yours suitably thin... :)
As the crust is blind baking, you can prepare the rest of the filling... In a double boiler, melt and mix the chocolate, butter and golden syrup. When everything is completely melted and smooth, stir in the brown sugar, vanilla and bourbon. Add the eggs one at a time, wisking each one in throughly - to avoid cooking! Take the double boiler off the heat, but leave your bowl over the water so that the chocolate/bourbon mix stays warm. Stir as needed...
Once the crust is finally baked, spread the pecans over the base and pour on the hot/warm chocolate/bourbon mix.
Bake in the 200 degree C oven for 10ish minutes, until the edge of the filling is set, but the centre still jiggles!
You can bake the pie ahead of time and serve it a room temperature, or serve it warm... It's great with a plain vanilla ice cream, or whipped chantilly cream.
The following recipe for Sinful Chocolate, Pecan and Bourbon Pie is adapted from that gorgeous book...
 |
| A disappointingly blurry photo of the pie with a dollop of french vanilla ice-cream... |
-- Just as an aside, I'm off to India in a couple of days... I'm not sure how reliably I'll be able to blog while I'm away - I'll do my best! But fear not, I'll back in full swing for the New Year... In the mean time, I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season and an exceptional New Year, Love from Kat--
Recipe follows the jump... (trust me, you want to read this one!)
You'll need:
For the pastry--
1 1/2 cups white flour
125g salted butter, cut into cubes
4-5 Tbsp bourbon, from the freezer
Blitz the flour and butter in a food processor until the mix resembles wet sand. (If you don't have a food processor - which I don't when I'm not at home... You can grate the butter and then rub it into the flour for the same, if slightly more work intensive result...)
Then pour in 3 Tbsp of the ice cold bourbon and bizz-izz again... If the pastry starts to form at this point - all good, otherwise slowly add the next 2 Tbsp of bourbon just until a stiff dough is formed - you don't want it to be too sticky!
Now, wrap the pastry in cling-film and bung it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes (I left mine over night, but Alice says you can leave it for up to 3 days... Or a week and a half, if you're me, woops...)...
Once the dough has rested in the fridge, pull it out and allow it to come to a temperature in which it'll roll without cracking... Meanwhile grease your pie dish - 9" is best... Then, on a lightly floured surface, roll it until it's approximately 5mm thick and big enough to fit your pie dish with overhang! Carefully set the pastry into the pie dish and fold the excess pastry back into the crust so that the outer edge with be slightly thicker. Now, put the pastry back into the fridge for at least another 30 minutes!
(You'll blind bake the pastry after you toast the nuts, which is what's coming next...)
For the filling--
500g pecan halves
75g dark chocolate
1/4 cup golden syrup
15g salted butter, melted
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp bourbon
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
(While the pastry shell is in the fridge...) Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. Spread the pecan halves on a baking sheet and bake for 6-9 minutes, or until a slightly darker brown and they're beginning to smell toasty.
Now, increase the oven temperature to 200 degrees C and allow to come to temperature...
Cover the pastry with tin foil (shiny side down) and allow to overlay the edge without actually touching the outer crust. Prick the bottom of the pastry shell through the tin foil all over and fill with dried beans, or pie weights.
Bake the crust for 20 minutes with the foil and weights and for 10 minutes (or until golden) without. Now, mine puffed up A LOT despite my weighing it down AND pricking it loads... So make sure you've rolled yours suitably thin... :)
As the crust is blind baking, you can prepare the rest of the filling... In a double boiler, melt and mix the chocolate, butter and golden syrup. When everything is completely melted and smooth, stir in the brown sugar, vanilla and bourbon. Add the eggs one at a time, wisking each one in throughly - to avoid cooking! Take the double boiler off the heat, but leave your bowl over the water so that the chocolate/bourbon mix stays warm. Stir as needed...
Once the crust is finally baked, spread the pecans over the base and pour on the hot/warm chocolate/bourbon mix.
Bake in the 200 degree C oven for 10ish minutes, until the edge of the filling is set, but the centre still jiggles!
You can bake the pie ahead of time and serve it a room temperature, or serve it warm... It's great with a plain vanilla ice cream, or whipped chantilly cream.
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