Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Seasonal - Winter/Holiday

Audio By Carbonatix

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Ingredients: 

For the crust (this will make two pie crusts): 

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
• 6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water

For the filling:

• 1 cup light corn syrup 
• 3 large eggs 
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 
• 1/4 cup bourbon 
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, grated
• 2 cups chopped pecans 
• 1/2 cup pecan halves, optional, for decoration

A few notes on making this:

• the pie crust recipe makes two crust so you could double the filling and make two pies if you wanted, or you can use store-bought pie crust. 
• If you aren’t making two pies, simply freeze one of the dough balls when you make the pastry and portion into two. 
• Make sure your pastry ingredients are very cold. I put my butter in the freezer the morning I’m making my crust. 
  
  
• Chop up a bar of semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate. Don’t use chocolate chips—they don’t melt as nicely in the pie. 
• This is my favorite pie to eat every Thanksgiving… C’est si bon!

Directions: 

Crust:

• Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

Filling: 

Combine corn syrup, sugar, eggs, melted butter, bourbon, vanilla, and salt in large bowl and set aside. 

Sprinkle the chocolate and chopped nuts over the bottom of the pie shell and pour the egg-vanilla mixture on top. 

Place the pecan halves in a decorative pattern on top of the filled pie and bake until golden and set - about 45 minutes. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for 90 min.