Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

Another favorite food I remember from growing up is chocolate pie. For my birthday I used to frequently request chocolate chess pie, and in recent years I've asked my mom to make chocolate pecan pie when I visit for Thanksgiving or Christmas. This Thanksgiving we stayed in New Hampshire, but I still got a craving for chocolate pecan pie. I wanted it enough that I decided to make it myself, but I needed to figure out how to make it dairy-free. That way I could eat as large a piece as I wanted without any ill effects. I found the following recipe for rich chocolate pecan pie, which was already dairy-free and just needed a little modification to make it wheat-free and corn-free as well. I took the pie to our pot-luck Thanksgiving dinner with friends, and I think it was a success since there was only one small piece left to take back home.

I recommend toasting the pecans in the oven because it really enhances the pecan flavor, but you don't have to. If you do, you need to let the pecans cool before mixing them together with the chocolate chips. I failed to think of that the first time I made the pie, and you can imagine what happened to the chocolate chips when they touched the hot pecans. Fortunately, it still tasted great, even if it didn't look quite the same.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie
makes 1 9-inch pie

Ingredients for the pie crust:

• Go to this recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie for the ingredients and instructions on how to make the crust.
  

Ingredients for the pie filling:

• 8 ounces (about 2 cups) of raw chopped pecans or pecan quarters. Make sure that the ingredient list just says pecans. Some brands coat their pecans in corn oil.
  
• 1 cup dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips. I recommend Ghirardelli, Trader Joe's, or Enjoy Life brand.
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup. I used Lundberg Sweet Dreams organic brown rice syrup.
  
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Use Trader Joe's alcohol-free vanilla extract or another vanilla extract that does not have corn syrup and is preferably alcohol-free, since the alcohol could be derived from corn. Recently I have been using Rodelle Vanilla Flavor alcohol free all natural extract, which I found at Stop and Shop.
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet with canola oil. Place the pecans in a single layer on the sheet and put in the preheated oven for 4 to 5 minutes, until the pecans are fragrant. Watch the pecans carefully while they are in the oven so that they don't get scorched. Transfer the pecans to a plate and set them aside to cool.

Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Make the crust following the instructions given here. Make the filling by whisking together the eggs, white sugar, light brown sugar, brown rice syrup, vanilla extract, and sea salt. If your brown rice syrup is cold, it's much easier to work with if you warm it up slightly in the microwave before trying to mix it with the other ingredients. (This is also something I learned the hard way.)

When the pecans have cooled to room temperature, mix them together with the chocolate chips. Spread the pecans and chocolate chips evenly over the bottom of the pie crust. Then pour the filling over the top of the of the pecans and chocolate chips. Cover the edge of the crust with aluminum foil. Place in the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 20 more minutes, until the crust is browned and the top of the filling is set.

Let the pie cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. The original recipe suggests making a caramel sauce to go with the pie. I haven't tried making the sauce yet, but it looks like it would be really tasty.