11/24/11

Chocolate Bacon Pie

Thanksgiving has officially started. I have many, many things to be thankful for: my intelligent children who keep me smiling, my husband who understands me completely, my mother and father for both beating health issues, my extended family who accepts me, the roof over my head, my fabulous SUV, a great job with awesome perks, wonderful classmates and super knowledgable teacher who all crack me up, Dixon's Vixens for always lifting my spirits, my perfect health and incredible height (I like being an Amazon). Those are the most important things that I am thankful for.

There is something completely trivial that I am completely thankful for. My awesome cousin Annie introduced me to my newest obsession: Chocolate Bacon Pie. This is the food of the gods. It is sex in dessert form. The perfect combination of salty and sweet. It is a total foodgasm.


Only a few ingredients make pure awesomeness. Annie's friend found the original recipe here. I tweaked it a tiny bit. I am in no way a baker. I just cook for my family when I can and do things my way.

First, I thought I'd make mini pies with the big pie. The mini pies burned horribly, the other pie wasn't as smooth as I had hoped for. The second time (in a week) that I made this, I made two separate full sized pies. The mini pies could have worked if I would have watched them instead of following the directions word for word. This is a burnt mini pie.


Do not "double" this recipe. It makes the pies totally not smooth. Make each one separate unless you have something like a stand up mixer. These measurements are make one pie. Whisking a double batch by hand makes it look like this.


Make sure you have plenty of time to make this. The first time I rushed it & they sucked. Yesterday, I made a box recipe for pumpkin pie bars, and two of these pies. It took me about four and a half hours with a single oven. I make an awesome pie assembly line. Each pie turned out more beautiful than the last.

If you feel brave enough to give this a try, here's what you'll need.

1/2 pack (~ 6 oz) Cooked Bacon
1/4 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate (finely chopped)

Pie Crust:
6 tbsp Butter
2-4 tbsp Bacon Grease
6 oz All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Ice Water

Pie Filling:
8 tbsp Butter
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate, chopped (I used the Nestlé morsels, they melt easily)
4 beaten Eggs
1 tsp Pure Vanilla
1 1/2 tbsp Yellow Cornmeal

You'll also need:
Aluminum Foil
Large Frying Pan
9 inch Pie Pan
Whisk
3 Forks
Spoon
Sauce Pan
2 Large Mixing Bowls
Small Microwave Safe Bowl
Paper Towels
Plate
Wax Paper
Rolling Pin
Dry & Liquid Measuring Cups


Thorough enough for you? You ready to get cooking?

First, the recipe says to bake the bacon in the oven. In Alabama, we throw that the the pan.


I'm going to tell you how my Grandpa taught me to fry up some bacon. It's the only way I can make bacon. You'll want to go ahead and cook the whole package of bacon, because you know you'll want to eat while you bake. You put that big frying pan on the biggest eye of the stove and turn it up about half way. Using two of the forks, pick up one slice of bacon at a time. Let them pop and sizzle a bit and flip each slice using the forks. Let the bacon get crispy, but watch it so it doesn't burn. Save the bacon grease, we call them bacon drippins. I always use a jar that I keep by my stove. In the South, we never throw out bacon drippins. Here's crispy bacon.


Now, make sure you place the bacon on paper towels to soak off the excess grease from the strips. When the bacon is fried, crumble half of it and set aside. Enjoy the rest. We can make the crust.

Next, take the 6 tbsp of butter and melt it down with the 2-4 tbsp of bacon grease, and stick the mixture in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes.


Use a fork to mix the 6 oz of flour and the 1/2 tbsp of salt. Cut the butter and grease from the freezer into the flour and salt. Mix all this until you can roll it in a ball, adding some of the ice water if needed. Wrap the ball in some wax paper and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

Put the 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave safe bowl. Cook it for 30 seconds. If not melted, add another 10 seconds.


Melt down the 8 tbsp of butter. Put the 1 cup of sugar into a large mixing bowl. Pour the butter over the sugar and mix them thoroughly. Pour in the melted semi-sweet chocolate. Mix evenly. Whisk the 4 beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture. When it is smooth add the 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 1/2 tbsp yellow cornmeal. Once again mix it until it is smooth.


Set that aside and chop up the 1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate. Set aside. You will need this for the final step.


By now the crust ball should be done chilling. Place it on a piece of wax paper and place another piece of wax paper over the top. Use the rolling pin to roll it out to just a bit larger than the top of the pie pan. Take off the top sheet, place the pie pan upside down on top of the rolled dough, flip, pull off the wax paper.


Pour the pie filling into the crust. Bake for 45 minutes. It'll rise and develop like a crust on the top. Remove and sprinkle the crumbled bacon over the top and bake for 15 more minutes.


When that 15 minutes is up, remove the pie and sprinkle the chopped chocolate over the top. The chocolate will melt with the heat of the pie and lock the bacon into place.


I prefer the pie cold, so I put it in the fridge. Annie likes it room temperature or warm. Either way tastes great. Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think of it.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Disclaimer: No person, brand, website country, and/or holiday mentioned did not in any way, shape, or form, ask me to write this or gave me any compensation to write this. I took all photos with my own iPhone 4. Please don't sue, I'm broke anyways. I just wanted to share my amazing recipe with Bloggywood! While I was not offered anything to write this, I will be more than happy to receive any swag you may want to send my way.

- Whether you love me or hate me, you know who I am.

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