Pecan Chocolate Pie

In the book, The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais, the protagonist weaves funny anecdotes and sometimes poignant memories of his journey from the quirky and dusky balmy town in India to the snow capped, spring smelling Switzerland and finally to the cosmopolitan, ritzy and shimmering lights of Paris, and from being a small, lanky and hopeful Indian boy with big dreams to becoming a French Chef with 3 michelin stars tucked under his belt. 

And in that book, it is said that a dish is only considered good when it stirs happy childhood memories, extracts sweet tastes of (your) past, reminds you of home, and the very core of who you are.

All of these were reenacted when Dara, a former colleague of my little boy, came running to him, with her eyes welling up with tears and her voice lined with emotions and said, "this pecan pie reminds me so much of the pie that my grandmother used to bake in San Francisco when I was a child".

When something like that truly evokes emotions in different folds, when something like that truly impacts someone's life positively and when something like that reconnects the young and the old then  you know you have done the right thing - baking this beautiful pecan pie for the world to see and enjoy.

For your Base/pie shell: click here for the recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 recipe basic crust

2 tbsp plain flour

170g ( 6 oz) light brown sugar

3 large eggs

340g (12 oz) golden syrup

28g (1 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tsp vanilla essence

pinch of salt

200g (7 oz) pecan halves and pieces

35g ( 3/4 oz) unsweetened cocoa

Preheat the oven to 220C. Roll out the pastry dough and line a 23-cm (9-in) pie dish. Crimp the end decoratively, Chill in the refrigerator while making the filling.

Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs, golden syrup, butter, vanilla, and salt. Mix in 10Og (3 1/2 oz) of the pecans.

Remove the crust from the refrigerator and pour in the filling. Arrange or sprinkle the remaining pecans on top. Bake for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 160C (325F) and bake for another 45 minutes or until set.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool for an hour.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream