Chocolate Pecan Pie

Wow, this pie was SO good.  I got the recipe from my mother in law, and had to make one change.  I was just going over the ingredients and realized I made 2 changes.  Whoops, I added way too much chocolate, no wonder I liked it so much!  I ended up using half dark corn syrup and half light.  This is because I ran out of dark and was too lazy to make another trip to the grocery store over the weekend.

I do not really like pecans, but made this pie for my husband.  I had a bite when it came out of the oven and it was amazing!  Even if you don't like pecans, give this a try.  The only way you won't like it, is if you don't like chocolate.  The recipe below is the recipe I ended up using for my pie!

Ingredients:

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

1/2 cup corn syrup

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1/3 cup flour

1 1/2 cups whole pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla

Make one pie crust, recipe found here, and line a pie dish.  (I added a tablespoon of sugar to my pie crust, I had read somewhere to do this when using the dough for pies.  It will sweeten it up a little bit.)  Add bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the bottom of pie dish.  Combine eggs, sugar, corn syrups, vanilla, and butter.  Mix well.  Add in flour and then pecans.  Add mixture to pie dish, on top of chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until a knife comes out clean.  When there was about 20 minutes left, I brushed my crust with an egg white mixed with a little bit of water to help brown the crust a little more.

Chicken Pot Pie

Original recipe from Williams Sonoma Comfort Food.

This was an easy chicken pot pie recipe.  I did not line my bowls in a pie crust, I only placed the crust over the top....that made me feel a little less guilty about eating it.  Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup chopped leeks

1/2 cup finely diced carrots

1/3 cup peas, fresh, canned or frozen

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

4 1/2 cups chicken broth

4 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 semi baked potato, cut into chunks

Pie Dough

1 large egg

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium high heat.  Add in leeks and carrots, stirring occasionally, until leeks are tender.  Remove from heat and stir in peas and potato.

In a large saucepan, melt the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter.  Whisk in flour and let bubble gently for 1 minute.  Gradually whisk in the chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, whisking frequently.  Stir in the shredded chicken and vegetable mixture.  Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spoon mixture into six 1 1/2 cup oven proof soup crocks or ramekins.

Roll out dough and cut into squares large enough to drape over your bowl.  On the side facing down, lightly coat around the edge with beaten egg.  Press to bowl.  Brush the top with egg as well.  Bake until pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 25 minutes.