I have found Heaven...

And it is Chocolate Pecan Pie. I am strangely comfortable with that. I have been in a baking/cooking mood lately and last night it was chocolate. You need this in context so let me paint the picture for you. It is sunny and 70 degrees in Georgia. Garrett and I spent the day yesterday going to Decatur to check out vintage and antique shops. Our favorite was Paris On Ponce. It was awesome and the best part (and the main reason I rarely shop for antiques) it didn't smell like an antique shop. It was nicely organized and lit. The shop reflected the name on the inside and outside. They didn't just pick a good name and leave it at that. There is even a Moulin Rouge Cafe inside. After that we wandered over to the next best thing to Chocolate Pecan Pie-- Whole Foods. This was our first visit and it was glorious. Garrett even remarked that the vegetables looked tasty and he doesn't eat vegetables. When we got back home, I felt like sitting and looking through some good books but I had just been through all my knitting books, so I grabbed my 2 chocolate recipe books instead. It was perfect-- Sitting out on the front porch with a smooth breeze, with just the right amount of sunshine, looking at a book full of chocolate pictures. I came across the Chocolate Pecan Pie and knew I had to make it right then. I asked Garrett to help me. All I needed him to do was pound the pecans and decorate the top. What came out of the oven 1 hour later was so blindingly delicious I am unable to adequately describe it. This post is naught but a tribute (for any Tenacious D fans!). If pies could be sainted so that they may have those glowing halos around them with the heavenly voiced singing, this one would. Every bite was Awesome. The recipe came from the more that appropriately named book: Greatest Chocolate Ever. It seems to be out of print so I have deiced to share the recipe here. I cannot sit by and deny my fellow crafters their ticket to the Greatest Chocolate Pecan Pie Ever. So if you think you can handle it, here goes : 

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Filling

• 3 oz semisweet chocolate (i used chocolate chips and didn't chop them up)
• 3 cups shelled pecans (2 cups for chopping and 1 cup for decorating top)
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter (room temp)
• generous 1 c brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1/4 c all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp powder sugar (for dusting--I didn't do this but I bet it looks pretty)

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg. To make filling, melt chocolate (i put it in a microwave safe bowl for 1 min) and set aside. coarsely chop 2 c of pecans and set aside. mix butter with 1/3 c of the brown sugar. beat in the eggs one at a time then add remaining brown sugar and mix well. stir in cream, flour and chopped nuts.
2. spoon filling into pie shell. cut remain 1 c of pecan in half (most stores sell halved pecans, pick up these instead of whole ones to save time) and arrange in concentric circles over pie.
3. bake in preheated oven for 30 min. then cover pie with foil and bake for another 25 min. Let cool completely on wire rack or in the fridge. dust with powder sugar and serve

this tastes awesome with vanilla ice cream. Also place your pie on a large cookie sheet when backing. My pie almost expanded over the edge in a 8 in pie plate, so protect yourself just in case. Enjoy your pie/heaven!

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[Jen]

*Drooling*