Chocolate Lava Pie

When I saw this pie on The Chew the other day, I have had a craving for it that is unbelievable!  

It is a program I don't often watch out of protest for taking the place of my beloved soap opera All My Children cancelled by ABC, but I happened to be at my mom's house and she watches it religiously.  This pie may have broken the ice for me . . .

The pie reminds me of one of my all time favorite pound cakes that I will have to dig through my personal collection of recipes to find . . . it is called Tunnel of Fudge Cake.  It is part brownie, part pound cake with a fudgy center. Different type of texture than this pie, but the concept is very similar.  I promise to share the pound cake recipe soon!

The only thing missing in that photo is a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Recipes for pie crust and salted caramel sauce listed separately.

ingredients

• 1 disc of Perfect Pie Crust
• 12 ounces Bittersweet Chocolate
• 1 cup Butter
• 5 large Eggs (room temperature)
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 cup Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup Semi- Sweet Chocolate Chunks
• 1/2 cup Chopped Nuts (pecans & walnuts; toasted)
• Salted Caramel Sauce (to drizzle)

directions

Preheat oven 350°F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8" thickness. Place inside a pie dish and line with parchment and baking beans or weights. Blind bake for 8 minutes. Carefully remove parchment and beans and bake for 4 additional minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool.

In a small, heavy bottomed saucepan, melt Chocolate and Butter over low heat. Let Chocolate mixture cool. (Alternatively, Chocolate and Butter may be melted in the microwave. Be careful not to overheat and burn it.)

Using a mixer, whisk Eggs and Sugar until thickened and lemon-colored; blend in Vanilla. Sift Flour and Salt together and fold in; blend in the Chocolate mixture on low speed until thoroughly blended. Fold in the Chocolate chunks.

Pour into the pie crust and bake for 20-25 minutes or until slightly dry on top and slightly jiggly in the center.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

Garnish with toasted nuts and a drizzle of Salted Caramel Sauce (click for recipe) to serve.




Helpful Tips:

1. Blind bake the crust. Blind baking is baking the crust once without the filling. Use wax paper with beans on top to keep the crust from bubbling.

2. Whisk the chocolate together until the butter is fully incorporated.

3. Let the pie rest for 10 minutes and then serve. If making this pie ahead of time, re-warm in the oven or microwave.