Mealtime Magic: Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

 You don't have to be from the South to embrace Southern food—especially the sweets!  There is just something about Southern desserts that appeal to the hearts, souls, and stomachs of everyone. Just think of decadent, sweet delights filled with lots of sugar, butter, nuts, and fruit, or dripping with chocolate, caramel, whipped cream, and yes, even bourbon! Chef Belinda Smith-Sullivan transports home cooks to the delicious South with her new cookbook, Southern Sugar by reintroducing some favorite recipes that may have been forgotten and putting fresh takes on Southern classics. 

Recipe and photo reprinted with permission from
Southern Sugar by Belinda Smith-Sullivan
Gibb Smith/September 2021

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
MAKES 8 SERVINGS

1 (9-inch) Pie Crust Dough (see below)
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon
1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1⁄2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
3⁄4 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out dough and place in a 9-inch glass pie baking dish. Line crust with parchment paper and weight with pie weights or beans. Bake in the oven for 6–7 minutes. Remove pie shell from oven and
remove pie weights and parchment. Allow to cool.

In a medium to large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla, bourbon, and salt. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Pour into the pie shell and bake for 35–45 minutes or until the sides are firm but the center is still
slightly shaky. Do not overcook. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Serve at room temperature or slightly warmed.

Pie Crust Dough
MAKES 2 (9-INCH) CRUSTS

This pie crust recipe is so easy to make. The ingredients we use changed between generations. My grandmother used all shortening for her pie crust, while my mother used half shortening and half butter. I use all butter. Each set of ingredients yields different results for taste and tenderness. This recipe is my mother’s version, with the butter and shortening combination. Choose your preference and stick to it! Also, my grandmother would never have used a food processor to make her pie crust dough—but then again, she didn’t have access to one.

2 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut
into 1⁄2-inch cubes and chilled
8 tablespoons shortening, chilled
and cut into pieces
1⁄4 cup chilled water

In the bowl of a food processor, add flour and salt and pulse a few seconds. Add butter and shortening and pulse until flour takes on a pea-like consistency. Add chilled water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and process until the ingredients form a
ball and pull away from the sides of the food processor. Remove dough, divide in half, and flatten into 2 disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 2 days.

Take 1 disk of pie dough out of the refrigerator and let rest for 30 minutes to make dough easier to roll out. On a dry, well-floured surface, roll out dough disk to 12 inches, enough to have some hang over the edges of the pie dish.
Place into a 9-inch dish, being careful not to tear the dough. Trim off the excess dough to about 1⁄2-inch overhang all around. Pour the prepared pie mixture into the bottom crust.

For double-crust pies, roll out the second disk and carefully add on the top of the filling. Trim top dough to about a 3⁄4-inch overhang. Tuck top dough edges over and under bottom dough edges, and then flute the edges all around
using your thumbs and forefinger or crimp with a fork. Using a fork or small sharp knife, make slits in the top crust so steam can escape and not crack the top crust. Bake in preheated oven as described in recipe.

BELINDA SMITH-SULLIVAN is a chef, food writer, spice blends entrepreneur, and commercially rated pilot. She has a culinary arts degree from Johnson & Wales University and writes a monthly column for South Carolina Living. She also is featured on South Carolina Living’s website with monthly how-to videos. Chef Belinda is the author of Just Peachy and Let’s Brunch cookbooks and is an active member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, International Association of Culinary Professionals, American Culinary Federation, and Les Dames d’Escoffier. She lives in Trenton, South Carolina.

No holiday celebration would be complete without pecan pie. Who doesn’t love a dessert that brings together, in one single dish, some of the best flavors of the South! Try this delicious recipe from Southern Sugar.