Angel Girl’s Bite-Sized Chocolate Pecan Pies
Angel Girl attended her very first cooking school this summer – she LOVED it!! This is one of the many recipes she learned, and it has quickly become a family favorite. The ground pecans in crust are the perfect touch, and the chocolate is the perfect compliment to the sweet pecan filling. It’s just all around perfect. I particularly like to serve eat them with a dollop of Ready Whip sprayed straight from the ice cold can!
Dough Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups All-Purpose Flour (keep the container out…you’ll need more for dusting when rolling the dough)
- 5 tablespoons Finely Ground Pecans
- 1.5 tablespoons Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 4 tablespoons Ice Water, plus more if needed
Instructions to Prepare Pie Dough:
- Combine Flour, Ground Pecans, Sugar, and Salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk well to thoroughly combine.
- Using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingertips, cut or rub the Butter into the flour mixture until the Butter pieces are the size of peas.
- Sprinkle with Ice Water, 1 tablespoon at a time, over the flour mixture.
- Stir and fluff the flour mixture with a fork until shaggy clumps form.
- Pick up the large clumps and squeeze to test for moisture. Continue adding water as needed. Dough is ready when the clumps hold together.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for a few minutes to make rolling and cutting easier.
- When ready, roll dough to 1/8 of an inch thickness, sprinkle with flour as needed to prevent sticking on the surface and/or the rolling pin.
- Using a 3-inch round cookie cutter, mason jar, or glass, cut circles out of the pie dough.
- Line each cup of a mini-sized with a dough circle, gently pushing the dough down and around the sides of the cup. (You can cut 4-inch dough circles and use a regular muffin tin for slightly larger pies…Angel Girl just thinks the tiny ones are cuter.)
- Place muffin tin with dough liners in refrigerator until ready to fill.
Filling Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
- 2 ounces Unsweetened Chocolate
- 3 large Eggs
- 1 cup Sugar
- 3/4 cup Dark Corn Syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1.5 cups Pecan Halves
Instructions to Prepare Pie Filling:
- Place Butter and Chocolate in the top of a double broiler set over simmering water. (We don’t have one of those, so we just stir constantly over low heat so that nothings scalds…)
- Stir with a silicone spatula until mixture is smooth and well combined.
- Remove from heat and allow chocolate mixture to cool.
- Whisk Eggs in a large bowl until frothy, then blend with Sugar.
- Stir in Dark Corn Syrup, Vanilla, and Salt.
- Slowly pour chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, and whisk until well blended.
- Remove prepared muffin tin from refrigerator and arrange pecan halves/pieces on the bottom of each cup.
- Carefully pour (we use a melon baller here to scoop instead of pour) the filling mixture over the pecans, taking care to fill each cup 3/4 full.
- Transfer muffin tin to preheated 350 degree oven.
- Bake until the crust edges are browned and filling is slightly puffy, about 25 minutes.
- Remove from pan after 10 minutes.
- Devour because they are SOOOO good!