Julie Duchesne's Famous Chocolate Pecan Pie

You've heard about it. Finn dreams about it all year. And quite frankly, so do I.

As it is my family's Easter celebration tomorrow, I've made it. We're all obsessed.

Let's start with the crust. There are plenty of recipes for chocolate pecan pie that just call for a plain, boring pie crust. Even a pre-made plain pie shell!

That's not how Julie Duchesne does things. She takes 23 Oreo cookies and smashes them (this amounts to about 1 1/2 cups of chocolate cookie crumbs) and stirs that together with 5 tbsp of salted butter. Yes, salted. Unsalted butter is useless and only really necessary for buttercream frosting. Press the wetted crumbs into a 9" pie plate, then bake for 8-12 min in a 350 °F oven.

While you're waiting for that to bake, start prepping for the decadent filling. And by decadent, I mean decadent.

Take a large pot and fill it with about an 1.5" of water. Bring this to a simmer, then place a heat proof bowl over top. This is called a bain-marie.

Next, chop 6 oz of semi-sweet baking chocolate. This is about 6-7 squares. Once this is chopped, you can melt this in your bain-marie. Stir until it's fully melted.

Once the chocolate is ready, stir in 1/2 cup of salted butter. For faster melting, cut it into cubes. The chocolate will be thick and glossy once the butter is fully incorporated.

Next, add 2 tbsp of Dutch-processed cocoa powder (it's darker than natural cocoa and will have potassium carbonate in the ingredients list - it's been alkalized so it's not at all acidic) and 1 tsp of finely ground espresso. You won't taste the espresso in the final product, but it will deepen the chocolate flavour and really make it stand out. Stir until the cocoa and espresso are fully incorporated.

Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat. Whisk in 3/4 c golden corn syrup, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour, 1 tbsp of vanilla extract and 3/4 tsp of salt. You can also add 2 tbsp of bourbon or rye if you're feeling saucy.

When the sweetening ingredients have all been incorporated, whisk in 4 large eggs. Best to crack them in a separate bowl, whisk them in that one, and then whisk to combine. Nothing ruins a pie quicker than a piece of egg shell. If your filling mixture is still hot, combine a little bit (a few tablespoons to 1/4 c) into the egg mixture to bring it up to temperature. If you leave your eggs out while you're preparing everything else, they should be warm enough that this won't be an issue.

Lastly, fold in 2 c of chopped pecans.

You're now ready to fill your cooled pie crust. Pour the filling in, and then arrange some whole pecans on top. Julie makes a little design, and who am I to question her expertise?

The pie takes between 50-55 min to bake in a 350 °F oven. The filling will puff up as it bakes - don't worry. It will deflate as it cools. It's supposed to look a little crackly, and the pie will taste like a molten chocolate brownie with extra pecans.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

- 23 oreo cookies, crushed (or about 1 1/2 cups precrushed chocolate cookie crumbs)

-5 tbsp melted butter, salted

For the filling:

- 6 oz semisweet baking chocolate (about 6-7 squares)

-1/2 cup salted butter, cubed

-2 tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder (or natural if you don't have it)

-1 tsp finely ground espresso

-3/4 c golden corn syrup

-1/2 c light brown sugar, packed

-2 tbsp all-purpose flour

-1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

-3/4 tsp salt

-4 large room-temperature eggs, whisked

-2 cups chopped pecans, plus more for design

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Combine cookie crumbs and melted butter, then press into 9" pie plate. Bake 8-12 min and let cool.

2) Melt chocolate in a bain-marie, stirring constantly. When chocolate is fully melted, stir in cubes of butter until fully incorporated. Mixture should be thick and glossy. Stir in cocoa and espresso powders until fully incorporated.

3) Remove from heat. Whisk in syrup, sugar, flour, vanilla and salt. Whisk in egg until smooth. Fold in chopped pecans.

4) Fill pie crust with mixture. Bake at 350 °F for 50-55 min or until filling is just set, but a little jiggly in the centre. Cool on a wire rack for 4 hours and serve warm.

This recipe was adapted from this one.