More than just pecan pie baking in the oven

Little did I know that at the same time I was pulling the pecan pie out of the oven Fri night, that there was another little bun ready to be taken out as well. Congrats Andrew and Yurah on the brand spanking new addition to your family! We can't wait to meet the lil guy although from what I hear, he's a supersized bun =P

As I mentioned on my last post, I was going to make the bittersweet chocolate pecan pie at our Burlingame location (since I had all the ingredients) with the intention to sell it there. I made the crust and filling there (see pics taken from my camera phone below) but ran out of time to actually sell the pie so took the crust and filling home to chill. My intentions were to come back to the store in a couple of days (next time I was scheduled) to sell it but I forgot the filling and crust at home. Plan B, bake it Fri night and serve as dessert at Kirk and Ei-Lun's surprise engagement party.

There were some variations I made to this pie recipe:

- I used a pie crust recipe that I have found to be foolproof and although I was interested in using vodka, did not have any at the store lying around. Perhaps next time I make a pie at home, I will experiment with this method. My pie recipe is similar to the Gourmet one except it calls for more salt and some baking powder to help the rise and tenderness.

- Didn't have dark corn syrup and so used light

- Didn't have bittersweet chocolate on hand and so used a 60% cacao semi sweet chocolate.

- Instead of adding the pecans to the pie crust and then the filling on top, I mixed the nuts and filling together in a ziploc bag so I could easily transport home. This seemed to bake up just fine.

- Used chopped toasted pecans instead of halves, like Yurah suggested.

- Also baked only for 50 minutes as per Yurah's post.

The pie turned out nice and toasted on top but upon cutting, the inside was still moist. The crust did not overbrown, probably due to the 50 min vs. 60 min baking time. It's not that the pie was not good, but I am just not a huge fan of pecan pie. When Lee tasted this on Sat night, she mentioned that she loved pecan pie but was not a fan of the chocolate in it. I actually liked the chocolate in the pie, thought it had a nice flavor contrast and made the pie stand out instead of being too regular. I think it's a matter of preference from traditional recipes too. For example, I like some cream cheese in my pumpkin pie, but some people prefer the more traditional pumpkin only flavor.

I can see making this pie again for something like a Thanksgiving dinner that I know would be a crowd pleaser but probably not for myself since pecan pie is not top of my list on favorite pies to eat. It was super easy to put the filling together and I can see if you end up using a prepared pie crust from the supermarket, how it would be a pinch to make on any given day.