This cocoa pecan pie has an amazingly flaky, buttery crust and a no-bake chocolate pecan pie filling. It freezes nice, and you may make it with all-purpose or gluten-free flour.

Folks appear to be loving my Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars, so right here’s one other chocolaty pecan deal with.

Right now’s recipe is predicated on my corn syrup-free Gluten-free Pecan Pie. For right this moment’s recipe, I lowered the quantity of maple syrup and elevated the brown sugar to make it a bit inexpensive.

I additionally decreased the quantity of total sweetener as a result of I added chocolate chips. You’ll undoubtedly need to use semi-sweet, bittersweet or darkish chocolate.

This pie could be WAY too candy with milk chocolate.

I additionally elevated the quantity of butter, making an allowance for the added cocoa powder. I didn’t need a dry, crumbly pie!

The result’s elegant.

Elements

Right here’s an outline of what you’ll want.

For the pie crust:

Should you’re gluten-free, learn the part about gluten-free flour under.

For the filling:

Methods to make it

I’ll let the photographs do the speaking! The complete recipe, with ingredient measurements and directions, are under the publish and above the feedback part.

“This recipe seems too lengthy! Bah!”

The filling is made by merely mixing all of the filling components collectively.

The pie crust isn’t any extra sophisticated than some other pie crust recipe, however I’ve included plenty of element. In order that’s why the recipe seems lengthy.

Do I’ve so as to add the chocolate chips/chunks?

No, you may omit them and use extra pecans of their place.

Can I omit the cocoa powder?

Properly then you definitely don’t need a cocoa pecan pie. 😉 Please see the pecan pie I linked to on the high of this publish!

It has an oat flour crust, however you should utilize the basic pie crust in right this moment’s recipe, should you want.

Are you able to style the apple cider vinegar within the crust?

Positively not. Should you don’t have any, you should utilize white vinegar.

Some folks say it inhibits the gluten (should you’re utilizing all-purpose flour), and that tenderizes the crust and makes it flaky. I’ve seen folks declare the identical for gluten-free pie crust, though it doesn’t have gluten.

I used vinegar in pie crust for the primary time with this recipe. Then I learn this individual’s experiment. They stated it didn’t do a factor.

Vodka, nonetheless, appeared to have a optimistic impact! I’ll attempt that subsequent time. For now, I’m thrilled with this crust, for the primary time ever making a flaky pie crust, so I’ve included the vinegar within the recipe.

Ought to I toast the pecans first?

No must. Should you did that, the pecans that float to the highest of the pie would burn because the pie bakes.

I really thought I had barely burned my pie when it got here out of the oven. The pecans seemed and even smelled just a little burned.

However as soon as the pie had cooled, nothing tasted or smelled burned.

However should you take a peek whereas baking and are fearful about it getting too brown, you may cowl the pie with foil.

The highest of the pie can be dry nicely earlier than it’s achieved baking, so you may simply cowl it with out the foil sticking to the pie. You may as well use a pie defend if the crust seems prefer it’s browning an excessive amount of, however my pie crust was nowhere close to getting too browned.

The dry high of the pie really makes it tough to know when it’s achieved. The highest can be dry when the filling beneath remains to be a puddle of liquid.

55-60 minutes is what I wanted, however all ovens are totally different. It’s higher to bake it too lengthy than too brief!

The crust

I’ve been saying it for years, however I’m not a fan of regular pie crust. I discover it boring and a waste of energy.

This one is scrumptious, although! I added vanilla and extra salt than standard to the pie crust to present it some taste.

I’ve one other recipe developing with this crust, sadly not in time for Thanksgiving, and once I had lower out a couple of items, the pie really slid across the pan, and I may choose up the pie and maintain it in my fingers.

Which may sound like a bizarre factor to say, however I’ve gone via dozens and dozens of unhealthy pie crusts through the years. They’d follow the pan, be greasy, and on and on.

However that is the proper crust! I additionally tried it out on the filling of this Chocolate Fudge Pie, and it got here out nice.

It additionally works for recipes during which you want a totally baked pie crust with a no-bake filling.

You can also make it with all-purpose flour or Bob’s Pink Mill Gluten-free 1-to-1 Baking Flour. Should you’re gluten-free, you’ll need to learn the gluten-free part under.

I wouldn’t suggest attempting it with white entire wheat.

If you wish to use that, I’d discover a recipe that already requires it. It’s a bit extra absorbent than common flour.

You may as well use a store-bought pie crust should you want.

Do I’ve to sit back the dough?

Each good pie wants an amazing crust. One option to obtain that’s to sit back the dough and let it relaxation briefly earlier than rolling it out. The additional step could appear insignificant, but it surely’s the key to getting the optimum crust, even when utilizing gluten-free flour.

Refrigerating pie dough, gluten-free or not, solidifies the fats, stopping it from overmixing into the flour, which helps keep the construction because it bakes. Moreover, the flour absorbs moisture within the dough, producing a flakier texture.

Non-chilled dough is much less easy and crumbly, which makes it tougher to roll out. It may additionally brown shortly and be powerful.

And should you’re utilizing all-purpose flour, the resting time helps calm down the gluten within the dough, which helps stop a tricky crust.

So don’t skip this step as a result of it’s one of the best ways to realize an excellent flaky crust.

Ought to I blind bake the pie crust?

I didn’t, however you may if you would like the pie crust backside additional crisp.

I blind baked this pie crust about 8 occasions with different fillings, and it labored nice each time and by no means burned. Right now, I blind baked a pie after which had it within the oven with the filling for one more 70 minutes!

It was at a decrease temperature, however nonetheless. It was nowhere close to getting burned.

To blind bake it, right here’s what to do:

1. Loosely cowl the highest of the pie crust with plastic wrap and place it within the freezer (not fridge!) for 45 minutes.




2. Whereas it’s in there, preheat the oven to 400 °F (205 °C) and place a baking sheet on the baking rack that can suit your pie.




3. Line the crust with a chunk of parchment paper after which fill it with pie weights/ beans. Plenty of sources say it’s essential to fill all of them the way in which to the highest of the pan, however I simply did the underside, and it was superb.




4. Fastidiously place the pan on the now extremely popular baking sheet and bake for 20-23 minutes or simply till you see the tops of the crimped edges beginning to very evenly brown.
5. Take away the pan from the oven. Take away the parchment paper and weights and bake the crust for one more 5-7 minutes or till the underside of the crust is dry and beginning to brown. Now you can flip off the oven and switch it on once more in quarter-hour, or simply maintain it working.
6. Take away the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to chill utterly – about half-hour. After about 20 minutes of cooling, begin getting ready the filling and switch the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).

Do I’ve to bake the pie crust on a baking sheet?

No, but it surely’d be foolish to not. That is why:

• It’s simpler to drag the pie out of the oven when it’s on a baking sheet.
• I’ve made this precise pie recipe, as written, 4x and by no means had butter soften down from the crust or had the filling bubble over. Not even shut. However perhaps your pie pan is just a little smaller, your model of butter works just a little in another way, or no matter.

  You realize what actually stinks? To tug a pie out of the oven after 10 minutes of baking as a result of there’s burned butter on the underside of your smoked-filled oven. You’d have to scrub up the mess earlier than placing the pie again within the oven, and the crust, and maybe the entire pie, could be ruined.

  It’s a very irritating and unhappy scenario that may be 100% averted through the use of a baking sheet.

• Prepare dinner’s Illustrated did an experiment. The cherry pie they baked instantly on the oven rack had a soggy, juice-soaked crust. The crust of the pie baked on the baking sheet was stable and never soggy. You’ll be able to learn the reason why on the hyperlink. It’s attention-grabbing, however this publish is getting overwhelmingly lengthy. 😬

What sort of pie pan to make use of?

Because you’re going to be chilling or freezing the pie crust dough after which inserting it in a sizzling oven, you’ll need to examine your pie dish to ensure it’s secure to take action.

Most ceramic pie dishes needs to be secure from the fridge or freezer to the oven, but it surely’s not common, so examine the producer’s directions. Ceramic pie dishes warmth slowly and evenly, and so they can face up to sudden temperature modifications.

When utilizing Pyrex or glass bakeware, keep away from excessive temperature modifications as a result of it might trigger the dish to shatter and break. Glass pie dishes are nice as a result of you may examine the underside to see if it has browned. Nonetheless, you don’t need to probability it by inserting it in a sizzling oven instantly from the freezer.

Trendy oven-safe glass pans are designed to resist average temperature modifications, so taking a dish from the fridge to the oven set at 350 °F (175 °C) needs to be secure, however not your grandmother’s dish. I like to recommend erring on the secure aspect except you’ve achieved it earlier than and are assured your dish can face up to the temperature change.

Steel pie dishes are sometimes constituted of aluminum or aluminized metal and are nice warmth conductors. They’re good for blind baking or pre-baking pie crusts and getting the crust good and crisp.

Steel dishes can face up to excessive temperature modifications, so you may take them from the fridge or freezer and put them straight into the new oven. However maintain an in depth eye on them as a result of they’ll warmth shortly and overbrown the crust. If it seems to be browning too quick, you may place foil strips over the sides of the pie to maintain it from over-browning or use a helpful pie defend.

US butter vs. US European-style butter vs. precise European butter

This pie tastes SO a lot better with US European-style or precise European butter (that means butter produced in and for a European nation – not butter exported to the US from Europe). It’s fairly boring with common US butter.

US European-style butter works the identical as US butter. They can be utilized interchangeably.

BUT! Precise European butter from Europe just isn’t interchangeable with US butter or US European-style butter in all recipes. Particularly pie crusts!

I actually can’t perceive why precise European butter works in another way than US European-style butter. I’ve seemed up the fats proportion of some manufacturers of US European-style butter, and so they’re 82%, identical to the butter in Europe. It is mindless.

However I can inform you after dwelling in Germany for 14 years, the 2 sorts of butter aren’t interchangeable. I’ve a provide of US butter in my freezer and take a look at all of my baked butter-containing recipes with each sorts of butter, so I can see the distinction aspect by aspect.

So on the off probability you’re in Europe and have entry to US all-purpose flour or the Bob’s Pink Mill GF flour I speak about under, it’s essential to use 110 grams of butter + 3 grams of water rather than 113 grams of butter.

It sounds foolish, I do know, but it surely makes an enormous distinction.

The explanation I point out the flour is as a result of flour could be massively totally different relying on the place you reside. It’s finest to discover a pie crust recipe from the nation the place you’re.

So many US expats I do know spent their first vacation seasons confused about why their pie crusts had been swimming in butter or why their cookies unfold completely flat. The butter and flour are accountable!

Dwell exterior the US?

Along with what I stated above, it’s essential to take note of egg dimension. Medium eggs within the EU = giant eggs within the US. So should you’re within the EU, it’s essential to use medium eggs when making US recipes (they virtually all the time name for giant eggs). Should you’re not within the EU, you want eggs which are 50 grams with out their shell.

Utilizing eggs which are too huge or small would undoubtedly impact this recipe, so please simply don’t knowingly use the fallacious dimension. 🙂

Do I would like a meals processor?

I believe it’s a lot simpler to make use of one, however should you don’t have one, then you may make it by hand. I used a pastry cutter to chop within the butter.

I really feel like I had to make use of just a little bit extra water to get it hydrated, which resulted in a barely much less crisp crust, but it surely was nonetheless good!

Can I take advantage of a special crust?

Pecan pies are on the candy aspect, so that you don’t need to use a cookie-like crust for this recipe. I don’t suggest a gingersnap, graham cracker, or oatmeal cookie crust like on this Eggless Cheesecake.

Can I freeze this pie?

Sure! It freezes nice. You’ll be able to even eat it straight from the freezer. At the least from my freezer.

However you couldn’t style the crust when it’s so chilly. Simply plenty of chocolate taste! It’s finest to let it sit for perhaps half-hour after which serve.

Gluten-free model

It’s laborious to consider that is gluten-free when utilizing Bob’s Pink Mill Gluten-free 1-to-1 Baking Flour! I used to be form of shocked.

I assumed I’d get a lot better outcomes with King Arthur Flour Gluten-free Measure for Measure Flour. I used to be so confused after making it the primary time and having such unbelievable outcomes that I assumed I had grabbed the fallacious bag of flour.

I instantly made it once more with Bob’s and received the identical outcomes.

Then I attempted it with the King Arthur GF flour, and the outcomes weren’t anyplace close to nearly as good. Okay for gluten-free pie crust? Sure.

However the perfect ever gluten-free pie crust? Nope. It wasn’t in any respect flaky.

How do I make this paleo?

You’d first must discover a paleo pie crust. There’s no option to make the pie crust recipe under paleo.

I actually wouldn’t suggest a nut flour-based crust. Maybe one with cassava flour and/or starches, together with some nut flour. However not a recipe with 100% nut flour, as I’m fairly positive the crust would get soggy.

For the filling, you’d want to make use of 5.5 tablespoons (77 grams) refined coconut oil rather than the 6 tablespoons of butter. Additionally, use coconut sugar as a substitute of brown sugar, arrowroot/tapioca starch as a substitute of cornstarch, and paleo chocolate.

Vegan possibility?

Sorry, however no. There aren’t any good subs for the eggs within the filling.

I hope you’ll take pleasure in this cocoa pecan pie! Should you attempt it out, please let me know under the way you favored it. 🙂 Thanks!

❀

• Prep Time: 40 min
• Prepare dinner Time: 1 h
• Prepared in: 6:40 h
• Yield: 12 slices

Elements

Crust:

• 1 1/4 cups (156 grams) all-purpose flour or for gluten-free, use 1 1/4 cups (173 grams) Bob’s Pink Mill Gluten-free 1-to-1 Baking Flour + a tiny bit extra for flouring
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon superb sea salt
• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter (ideally US European-style butter for the perfect taste!), lower into 8 pats
• 1 teaspoon chilly vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon chilly apple cider vinegar
• 2.5 to five.5 tablespoons (37-81 grams) chilly water

Filling:

• 1 cup (200 grams) mild brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup (160 grams) pure maple syrup
• 6 tablespoons (84 grams) unsalted butter, melted and nonetheless heat
• 3 giant eggs (50 grams every, out of shell), room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons (17 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups (193 grams) chopped pecans
• 2/3 cup (113 grams) semi-sweet, bittersweet or darkish chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Instructions

Make the crust:

1. Get out a typical 9” (23cm) pie plate. It needs to be one which’s secure to maneuver from the fridge to a sizzling oven (see publish for more information). Don’t grease it.
2. To the bowl of a meals processor fitted with an S-blade, add the flour, granulated sugar and salt. Pulse a couple of occasions.
3. Flip it to the bottom velocity and add within the butter. Course of simply till you might have pea-sized bits of butter. Don’t overprocess! Cease pulsing.
4. Evenly drizzle the vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar excessive.
5. Activate the bottom velocity and pour in 2.5 tablespoons of water. The quantity of water you want will rely on how chilly your components, kitchen, and so forth. are. I’ve made this a number of occasions with the identical model of components, and have wanted between 3 and 5.5 tablespoons.
6. Course of very briefly till it seems prefer it’s coming collectively. It’ll look shaggy and never like a uniform ball. Pinch some collectively. If it stays collectively with out being crumbly, it’s prepared. You do not need to add an excessive amount of water. Extra water than essential = non-flaky pie crust. Should you assume it wants a bit extra water (it virtually actually will), add extra water, 1 teaspoon at a time. Should you assume you may type a disc with it with out it falling utterly aside right into a thousand crumbs, that’s one other clue it’s prepared.
7. Place the dough within the heart of a big piece of plastic wrap and wrap it up right into a flat disc, about 1” (2.5cm) or rather less. Should you can’t type a disc as a result of it’s nothing however crumbs, it wants just a little extra water.
8. Refrigerate for not less than 45 minutes and as much as 2 days.
9. Place a baking sheet on the baking rack (one within the decrease third of the oven) that can suit your pie. That is for the not possible case that one thing spills over and for a crisper crust backside. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
10. Very evenly flour a chunk of parchment paper and place the unwrapped dough on there. Sprinkle a tiny little bit of flour excessive of the dough.
11. Place the plastic wrap or one other piece of parchment paper on high of the dough and roll it out in order that it’s about 1/2” (1 1/4 cm) wider than the highest circumference of your pie plate.
12. Take away the piece of plastic wrap or parchment masking the pie crust, place the ungreased pie pan on high of the dough, after which flip over the dough and pan. Press the dough down across the edges on the backside of the pan after which take away the piece of parchment paper.
13. Fold the dough up so it is not hanging off the edges, and crimp the sides. The dough ought to go all the way in which up the sides and be crimped alongside the rim.
14. Place within the fridge, uncovered, for not less than quarter-hour whereas getting ready the filling.

Make the filling:

15. In a big mixing bowl, stir collectively all filling components apart from the pecans and chocolate, sprinkling on the cornstarch and cocoa powder slightly than plopping down an enormous clump. If there are any eggy bits that are not popping out, take away them, or they’ll bake up ugly.
16. As soon as mixed, stir within the pecans and chocolate chips.
17. Pour the filling into the unbaked chilled pie crust, however don’t pour so excessive that it goes over the crust! My photographer and I had loads of room left over with our normal pie pans.
18. Bake for 55-60 minutes or till the center is about.
19. Place on a cooling rack to chill utterly, about 2-3 hours, after which refrigerate for not less than 2 extra.
20. Refrigerate any leftovers for as much as 4 days. It additionally freezes nice for as much as 3 months.

Notes

1. Should you stay in Europe, use 110 grams butter + 3 grams of water to duplicate US butter for the pie crust. As a substitute of 84 grams of butter within the filling, use 82 grams (and no water). Additionally use medium EU eggs as a substitute of enormous eggs.
2. I put the vanilla and apple cider vinegar collectively in a tiny bowl within the freezer for about 10 minutes, and the identical with the water. I don’t put the vanilla/ACV and the water collectively in the identical bowl since you may not use all of the water.

• Should you take a peek whereas baking and are fearful about it getting too brown, you may cowl the pie with foil. The highest of the pie can be dry nicely earlier than it is achieved baking, so you may simply cowl it with out the foil sticking to the pie.
• You may as well use a pie defend if the crust seems prefer it’s browning an excessive amount of, however my pie crust was nowhere close to getting too browned.
• The dry high of the pie really makes it tough to know when it is achieved. The highest can be dry when the filling beneath remains to be a puddle of liquid. 55-60 minutes is what I wanted, however all ovens are totally different. It is higher to bake it too lengthy than too brief!

Recipe by Texanerin Baking | www.texanerin.com