Celebrate World Chocolate Day!

There are so delicious desserts that chocolate is the star of, it was hard to choose the one to celebrate World Chocolate Day! But, this is a Rustic Chocolate Pie recipe that I've been using for years. We almost always have it for Thanksgiving and it makes a great alternate option for all those pumpkin desserts.

Rustic Chocolate Pie

Ingredients

· ¾ AP flour

· ¼ tsp salt

· 5 tbsp cold butter

· 1 ½ - 2 tbsp cold water

· 6 oz chocolate (not to exceed 62% cocao)

· 2 eggs whites, room temp

· 1/8 cream of tartar

· ½ tsp vanilla extract

· ¼ cup sugar

· 1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

1. To make crust, combine flour and ¼ tsp salt. Cut butter into chunks and add to bowl, work into flour mix with pastry cutter or two knives, until butter pieces are pea size or smaller. Do not let butter melt.

2. Drizzle 1-1 ½ tbsp cold water into flour mixture while mixing, until just moist enough to hold together when pressed. Add remaining water if needed.

3. Turn dough onto plastic wrap, gather loose pieces and press into dough. Wrap dough and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

4. Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 400F.

5. Let dough sit for 30 minutes at room temp before working with it. On lightly floured surface, roll dough into 14”x9” oval, about 1/8” thick. Fold in half and transfer to parchment paper on baking sheet.

6. Unfold dough, loosely fold and roll edge to form rimmed crust, remember, it’s ok if it looks ‘rustic’.

7. Bake 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.

8. For filling, melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between. When chocolate is almost completely melted, just keep stirring until all bits are smooth. Set aside.

9. In bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar with 1/8 tsp salt. Beat until whites are stiff.

10. Pour melted chocolate into egg white mixture, fold gently until batter is uniform in color.

11. After crust is removed, reduce oven temp to 350F. Dollop chocolate batter on crust and spread until about ½” thick.

12. Bake 10-13 minutes, until surface looks dry and cracked. Cool on baking sheet. Serve warm. Cover and refrigerate up to 2 days.

13. Make more delicious and decadent with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.