Let Them Eat Pie - German's Sweet Chocolate Pie

My whole entire extended family absolutely LOVES Classic German's Chocolate Cake. It has been my dad's traditional birthday cake for as long as I can remember. In fact, I just made one for his Birthday about 2 weeks ago. On the other hand, everyone in my family is crazy about pie... insanely so, sometimes. As a result of this, something began churning in the back of my mind.

I thought it would be a great idea, for my niece's birthday, (who loves German Chocolate Cake & Coconut Cream pie) to combine the deliciousness of this illustrious cake with the unparalleled awesomeness of pie.

I was excited at first, because inside the box of Baker's German's Chocolate, was a recipe for a "German Chocolate Pie"... But once I began reading the recipe, I decided that it was in serious need of some help. So many opportunities to make a truly awesome cake-esque pie, but the recipe kind of falls flat. No Pecans, No Caramel, No Coconut. It's was a little crazy. Aren't Chocolate, Coconut, Pecans and Caramel the time revered combination when one is speaking of "German's Chocolate"?

So I took a few liberties; OK, I took a LOT of liberties, and came up with this.

German's Sweet Chocolate Pie

1/2 Cup Pecans
4 TB Granulated Sugar; divided
Pinch of Kosher Salt
1 pkg Honey Graham Crackers
5 TB Unsalted Butter
4 oz Baker's German's Chocolate (1 bar)
4 TB Whole Milk; divided
4 oz Cream Cheese
Another pinch of Kosher Salt
2 1/2 cups Heavy Cream; divided
1 1/2 TB Confectioners' Sugar
2 TB Shredded Sweetened Coconut
2 TB Caramel Sauce (I cheated and used a pre-made)
optional - a few gratings of Dark chocolate (for Garnish)

Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Place pecans and 2 TB of the sugar and a pinch of salt in a small food processor and grind finely.

Grind Graham crackers as well and combine with the Pecans in a small bowl.

Melt 5 TB butter and add to the Graham/pecan mixture, stirring with a fork until uniformly "moist".

Press into a 9 inch Pie plate.

Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool while making the filling.

Melt the German's Chocolate with 2 TB of the milk and set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, combine the remaining 2 TB of Milk, 2 TB Sugar, Cream Cheese and a pinch of Kosher Salt; mixing until well combined.

Add the luke warm Chocolate and stir to combine.

Cover with plastic wrap on the surface and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.

Beat 1 cup of Heavy Cream until stiff peaks are achieved.

Remove the Chocolate mixture from the refrigerator and stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream to
lighten it.

Fold in the remaining whipped cream in 2 batches.

Pour into the prepared and cooled Pecan crust, smoothing the top (cause we aren't done yet)

Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before continuing.

Place the remaining 1 1/2 cups of Heavy Cream and Confectioners' sugar in a bowl and whip until firm.

Place in a piping bag and pipe rosettes over the entire pie surface.

Drizzle Caramel sauce over the Rosettes by placing a whisk in the jar and wiggling it above the pie.

Oh, and I chose this caramel sauce because the ingredient list was the same as what I would have used had I made it myself.

Then Sprinkle with Coconut. (and Chocolate Shavings if you like)

Refrigerate again for at least 2 hours, covered; Freezing for 1 hour is better though.

To Serve, remove from refrigerator/freezer and let warm slightly before cutting (about 10 minutes).

Success----- Happy Niece!

Mangia!!
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This Ain't Your Daddy's Almond Roca - Toffee Crunch Cookies

Spryte did it to me again... Her blog is very dangerous for my weight control, with all of her delicious recipes. Several days ago she made the phenomenal looking Peanut Brittle Bars. I was suddenly gripped with the overwhelming desire to lick my computer screen!! Luckily, I was still rational enough to notice the amount of dust on the monitor, which prevented the impending faceplant into the screen from occurring.

Her recipe reminded me, like her Meyer Lemon Squares did, of something (which I DO have the recipe for, unlike the Lemon Bars I tried to recreate) that my mother use to make when I was "but a youngin". I have been dreaming about them ever since I saw Spryte's post and cannot get them out of my head so I am now forced to make them for myself. (sigh) Bummer Huh?

What I always liked about these, is that they are kind of like eating Almond Roca in cookie form. I tend to make this with the Pecans or Hazelnuts, even though I DO like Almond Roca... A LOT.... (Which will be another post, thanks to Grandma)

Mom's Toffee Crunch Cookies

About 15 graham crackers
1/2 cup chopped Almonds (or Pecans or Hazelnuts)
1 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter plus more for the baking pan
1 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Almond Extract (Omit if you are using pecans, use hazelnut extract for hazelnuts)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Kosher Salt
1 1/2 cup of Milk or Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips, depending on your taste. You can use chopped high quality chocolate as well. i.e Scharffen Berger 62%

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Butter a 13x9 baking pan or dish (pan works better)

Roast Almonds or Hazelnuts or Pecans in a shallow skillet.

Mix Butter and Brown Sugar together in a heavy saucepan, bring to a boil then boil for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, cover the bottom of the baking pan with graham crackers.

Sprinkle chopped nuts. (I used Roasted hazelnuts this time)

Remove Brown sugar mixture from heat and add the extracts.

Pour the syrup over the graham crackers and nuts.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes

Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Once they begin to melt, spread evenly across the cookies with a spatula..

Let them cool on a rack.
Break cookie into smaller pieces (they will be very random sized) and store in an airtight container in the fridge because the Chocolate is not actually tempered properly and will melt very easily.

Mangia!!
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