Love Pecan Pie? You are not alone. This American favorite has a vast trove of fans. And, truth be told, far be it from me to try and change that! Nor do I want to drastically alter a recipe beloved by millions, perish the thought! That said, this Easy Pecan Pie with Mexican Chocolate absolutely deserves a chance.
I just wanted to share with you a tasty riff on this dessert (in time for Thanksgiving) that everybody liked at home. I found that the addition of authentic Mexican Chocolate (we used one disk of “Abuelita”) to this classic dessert made it refreshingly tasty, while enriching the flavor, without effecting any dramatic changes to the original recipe. We certainly welcomed the novel take on this sweet. The Mexican Chocolate is definitely not a dissonant note, but a very nice, complementary one.
Now, the success of a Pecan Pie of any type hinges mostly on not overbaking it. This is of the utmost importance because if you do that, chances are that the resulting pie will be very hard and difficult to cut into (let alone bite, yikes!). Do not overcook the filling ingredients on the stovetop either, as it would have the same, much dreaded effect.
You can make the crust in advance, a day before or a few hours earlier and freeze it and when you are ready just prepare the filling, pour it into the frozen crust and into the oven it goes, just for 10 minutes until the filling bubbles and that’s it. It doesn’t get any easier than that!
For the crust you can use “Maria” crackers (a Mexican alternative to digestive biscuits), but feel free to use Graham crackers if you so desire.
Easy Pecan Pie with Mexican Chocolate
Ingredients
- For the crust:
- 1 1/2 cups Maria cookie crumbs or Graham crackers
- 1 stick unsalted butter melted (8 tbsp)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- For the filling:
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter 12 tbsps
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 6 tbsp corn syrup I used light corn syrup
- 3 cups pecan halves
- 1/4 cup Mexican or sour cream
- 1 disk Mexican chocolate, such as "Abuelita" chopped
Instructions
- Make the crust:
- Grease a 9" pie dish.
- Mix the cookie crumbs, 8 tbsp butter and brown sugar with a spatula or your hands until the crumbs are moist. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the greased pie dish. Cover the crust with plastic film and freeze while preparing the filling. (Or you can prepare the crust ahead and keep it frozen.)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Make the filling:
- Melt the 12 tbsp butter in a heavy medium saucepan and add the brown sugar and corn syrup mixing well. Bring to a boil, while you stir. Boil for one minute. Stir in the pecans and Mexican crema or sour cream. Boil for three more minutes until the mixture thickens slightly. Remove from the heat. Add the chopped Mexican chocolate and stir until it melts and the mixture is homogeneous.
- Pour the hot filling into the crust, evenly distributing the nuts. Bake until the filling is bubbly, about 10 minutes. Do not overbake or your filling might become hard. Take the pie out of the oven and cool completely before serving.
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