Chocolate Pecan Pie with Graham Cracker Crust

Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada but our celebrations have finished and we are resting after a busy, social and incredibly fun and heartwarming weekend. We hosted a small Thanksgiving at our house on Saturday, (Orphans’ Thanksgiving as we call) which involved a Thanksgiving dinner for friends who don’t have family locally to celebrate with. This year that included an Australian friend of ours who had never experienced Thanksgiving at all. It was a lot of fun sharing the traditions we Canadians have been lucky enough to grow up with.

Following Orphans’ Thanksgiving, my extended family gathered, cooked, laughed and shared the traditional harvest feast, complete with turkey and all the things that come with it. Highlights included my brother wearing a turkey shaped hat and making an incredibly odd, yet accurate, gobbling sound, our grandfather proclaiming that next Thanksgiving we should all take to the road and celebrate at our cabin, despite its tiny oven, and lastly, but not at all least, my tiny nephew Gavin who is just 13 months old, pointing and laughing at everything and repeating his one phrase “what’s that?”.

So why, after all that, am I baking? Well, the truth is, I kind of failed at my post yesterday: I was supposed to bake these pies for Family Thanksgiving. Orphans’ Thanksgiving went late, I had cooked all day and I ended up sleeping in yesterday morning (thank goodness Costco was open so we were able to take a store-bought apple pie). Additionally, tomorrow is Baked Goods Tuesday in my office and it’s my turn to bring in the treat. What better to bring in after a holiday weekend than something that nods to Thanksgiving itself? (As if we haven’t had enough already …)

The recipe is simple enough, though I have made some tweaks to the original with a change of crust, amplified butterscotch flavours and earthy fall spices to offset the nuts and chocolate. It’s quite forgiving, so don’t stress — considering what its made of, it’s nearly impossible to go wrong.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Pecan Pie with Graham Cracker Crust

Adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe found on epicurious.com

preheat oven to 350° makes 1 – 9″pie

For the crust, combine the following and press into a 9 inch pie dish:

1 1/4 C graham cracker crumbs

1/4 C butter, melted

Add to the bottom of the crust:

1 C chocolate chunks (chips would do fine)

2 C whole, raw, unsalted pecans

For the pie filling, mix together:

1/2 C butter, melted and cooled slightly (about 5 mins)

1 1/2 C light brown sugar, packed

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons Scotch or dark rum (if you’re not into adding alcohol, use vanilla)

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Pour the egg and sugar mix over the nuts and chocolate in the prepared pan.

Place the pie dish on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes until it is puffed and golden, still slightly jiggly and smelling richly of caramel.

Allow to cool and set fully before slicing and serving.

Cinnamon Raisin Baked Oatmeal

I have always admired ‘morning people’ because I have never really been one. I’m not a sleep-all-day type either, but I do not have a magical internal clock that rouses me, energetic and alert, every morning. In fact, the snooze button gets a lot of use and I have been known to spend far too much on really, really comfortable bed sheets.

But  sometimes on the weekend I cannot help but purposely get up early before everyone else because I love the quiet stillness of the house in the early morning. I like to get up, putter around, make some tea, and catch up on some online reading — nothing too strenuous. Not surprisingly, I also capitalize on such quiet, solo mornings by cooking, blogging and taking pictures – thank goodness for the huge kitchen window and the moody softness of morning light.

So much of life is spent hurrying, worrying and just trying to get up and out the door. A weekend morning of solitude can be a welcome reprieve after (or before) a hectic work week. In the summer, early mornings are nice to spend outside before the heat hits, but now that fall has really arrived, the coziness of foggy mornings keeps me inside and gets me thinking of something warm and sustaining for breakfast.

Cinnamon Raisin Baked Oatmeal

Preheat oven to 350°

Butter for the baking dish

1 ½ C rolled oats (not quick oats)

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 C raisins

3 C milk

1 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp pure maple syrup

Butter a 8×8 inch baking dish. Add oats and spices. Top with raisins. Stir together milk and vanilla and pour over oats. Bake for 40 minutes until tender and browned. Serve immediately with milk and more maple syrup or brown sugar as desired.