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Chocolate Chili Chess Pie with Liquored Pie Dough

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When Heather Earnhardt opened her tiny cafe, The Wandering Goose, in Seattle, she added a little bit of Southern charm and comfort to the city. From her childhood in the South with her close-knit family comes this collection of traditional Southern favorites that makes use of all of the delicious food ingredients available here in the Pacific Northwest. Her specialty is her biscuits – both sweet and savory – as well as traditional Southern fare such as pickles, fried chicken, grits, cakes and this luscious Chocolate Chili Chess Pie with Liquored Pie Dough. This delicious recipe comes from Heather L. Earnhardt’s Big Food Big Love: Down Home Southern Cooking Full of Heart of Seattle’s Wandering Goose, the World Spice Cookbook Selection for June 2017.

From the Author: “Chocolate Pecan Pie is one of my favorites, but I wanted a spicy version without nuts. I love the balance of sweet and spicy heat. After your first bite, the chili spice lingers a few moments but is not too overpowering, and the hint of cinnamon adds a nice warmth. Serve this with a big dollop of Whipped Cream. This pie dough will most likely make more than you need, but keep it in the freezer so you can pop it out to defrost and within a few minutes have a homemade crust ready for a sweet or savory pie. You can use a food processor or a stand mixer. If using a stand mixer, just be sure not to overmix the dough once you add the water or vodka. Use ice water if you don’t have vodka, or half vodka and half water if you don’t have a lot of vodka.”

 

From (c)2016 By Heather L. Earnhardt. All rights reserved. Excerpted from Big Food Big Love: Down Home Southern Cooking Full of Heart of Seattle’s Wandering Goose by permission of Sasquatch Books.

Big Food Big Love is the June 2017 selection for the World Spice Cookbook Club. Big Food Big Love is currently available for purchase at our retail store and online.


 1 Comment

  1. CoachShea says:

    I found this and was so excited! Chocolate and Chili! YUM! I already use New Mexico Red Chile Powder in my Pumpkin Pies and Pecan Brittle, so I knew this recipe had potential! (It is in the oven right this minute, with about 20 minutes left to cook. I can’t wait to try this!)

    A couple of comments (since I am not seeing any comments):

    1) The pie dough recipe made enough for 2 pies, so I am saving the rest for another time. I will most likely try to blend the flour and butter by hand or drag out my food processor next time. I used my kitchen aid mixer and just could not get the butter to blend in enough to get to the small pea size. Maybe I should have used refrigerated butter instead of frozen?

    2) There appears to be AN ERROR IN THE RECIPE. The pie crust calls for 1 and 1/2 cups of butter (3 sticks); the filling calls for 1/3 cup of butter (1 stick). Not equivalent. I used the 1/3 cup amount, but please correct the recipe if that is wrong.

    3) I also used New Mexico Medium Hot Red Chile Powder – 1 heaping tablespoon – in place of the red chili flakes. I like to taste the heat! This may not be available where everyone lives, but it can be found online.

    Just sampled the pie. Very good. I will probably add more chile (2X) and rework the pie crust (it is a bit thick for my taste, but the flavor is nice).

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