Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Adapted from Michael Symon's recipe as seen on abc's "The Chew"

My friend, Kristy, saw this on "The Chew" and sent me the link in an email with the words, "make this."

So I did.

I'm a HUGE pumpkin pie fan.

I'm also a chocolate fan.

Why not put the two together?

I used my own pie crust recipe, but added about a 1/2 TBSP of granulated sugar to offset the bitterness of the chocolate.

Click here for my "Easier-Than-Pie-Homemade-Pie-Crust" recipe

You can make your own pie crust, make Michael Symon's, or use store-bought.

So I'm going to skip that part of the recipe.

Ingredients:

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

(I used my ever faithful mini chips)

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

15 oz. can pureed pumpkin

12 oz. can evaporated milk

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 TBSP cornstarch

4 TBSP unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

This part was a bit strange to me. When I make pumpkin pie, I NEVER pre-bake the crust. I was skeptical, but it only calls for 15 min of pre-baking, so I did it.

Press pie crust into pie pan.

Cover pie crust with wax paper.

Now, if you pre-bake the crust without any weight, it'll bubble up.

There are these nifty little marble-like things called pie weights

I don't own them.

So I used beans.

Seriously. I googled it.

A whole bag of pinto beans cost about $1.00. I used as much as I needed for the pie, and I still have some leftover. I keep my "pie beans" in a container labeled "PIE BEANS" so that I don't try boiling them. I can use them again and again. A cheaper alternative to pie weights.

Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes.

While that's baking, let's start on the pie filling.

In a double boiler (or a metal bowl resting on a small pan of boiling water) melt your chocolates and butter stirring constantly until smooth.

Remove from heat.

Your pie crust is probably done by now. Take it out of the oven, remove wax paper and pour beans into container to be used again.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 F.

Let's finish the filling.

In a large bowl, or stand mixer, combine remaining ingredients. Beat until smooth.

Fold in chocolate mixture and pour into pie pan

(I had about a cup and a half of leftover filling, plus I overfilled it)

Put on pie crust shield if you have one, or just use aluminum foil so your edges don't get too dark. (I got my shield for $4 at Macy's!)

Put on baking sheet (in case of spills) and bake at 325 F for about 45 minutes or until center of pie has set.

(I told you I overfilled mine!)

Let cool, then refrigerate until ready to eat!

This pie is delicious.

I think I was expecting a classic pumpkin pie with a hint of chocolate.

This tastes more like a chocolate pie with a hint of pumpkin.

I tried this the day I baked it and was like "It's good, but I probably won't make it for the holidays"

But then I had a piece the next day and was like OH MY SOUL THIS PIE IS DELICIOUS!!!

Definitely make this a day ahead. Mmmm....I need another piece...

Southern Style Chicken & Dumplins'

I'm from Minnesota. Nowhere near the south, but I still love some good southern cookin'!

My mom used to make chicken and dumplings the "northern" way, with Bisquick®.

I like it that way, but it doesn't even compare to the way those Southern folk do it!

From here on out, I'm going to call the way my mom did it "dumplings", and I'll call southern style "dumplins' !"

Whenever my mom would make chicken and dumplings, she'd always sing this in the kitchen:

♫ "Chicken and dumplings sure taste fine, but I wouldn't want them all the time." ♫

So now every time I cook, or even eat a dumpling, I start singing the song. :o)

This is healthier than a lot of other chicken and dumplin'(g) recipes out there because it uses chicken breasts, and no canned soups.

(Dumpling recipe from the blog, Back to the Cutting Board, the broth part is my own)

What you need for 6 servings:

Chicken:

3 chicken breasts

2 stalks celery chopped

half of an onion chopped

2 bay leaves

lots of black pepper

12 cups chicken broth (I use chicken bouillon granules)

Dumplings:

3 cups bread flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (the recipe called for 3/4 tsp, but I found it too salty)

4 1/2 TBS shortening

1 cup milk

Bring chicken broth to boil in a large stockpot or dutch oven.

Add chicken, bay leaves, celery, onion, & 1 TBS of black pepper to boiling broth.

(The celery & onion are only to add flavor to chicken and broth, you'll remove them later)

Let simmer for about an hour until chicken is cooked thoroughly and tender.

While chicken is cooking, start on your dumplins'

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Add shortening.

Cut in shortening with fingertips until tiny balls form.

Add milk a 1/4 cup at a time. You might not need a full cup.

Stir until a ball of dough just begins to form, careful not to over-mix.

Roll dough out onto large floured cutting board. Roll about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut dough into whatever size you want. I did mine like this:

Let sit for 30 minutes to begin to dry. It won't be fully dry, but a little stiff.

(I forgot to do that when I was making it this time, so my dumplins' weren't as smooth looking as they should have been, but still tasted the same.)

While dumplins' are stiffening, remove your chicken from broth, let cool, and then shred.

Leave broth simmering with bay leaves in it.

Next, remove celery and onions from broth.

Now, add your dumplings one at a time.

Let cook 6-7 minutes, then add chicken.

Mine looked a bit funny at this point. Remember I forgot to let the dough stiffen?

Your broth will still look thin right now, but don't add anything to thicken it. The dumplins' will do it for you!

Cover and let broth thicken for 15-20 minutes. Remove bay leaves. Season generously with black pepper.

You can serve it anytime after that. If you let it sit longer, it'll thicken even more. I also think this dish tastes better the next day when all the flavors have had more of a chance to combine.

MIL's Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies.

I love cookies. Chocolately, chewy, soft, warm delicious cookies.

At our wedding reception, Timothy and I decided to do a "cookie buffet."

Kinda like a candy buffet, but with cookies instead.

All homemade.

I emailed family and friends and asked them to share their favorite cookie recipe.

We had a table with 8 different types of homemade cookies.

Want to see?

They were a hit! Everyone loved them! It was well worth the work...baking, individually wrapping, and freezing about 900 cookies.

Anyways. The recipe I'm about to share is one that my mother-in-law has used for years. It's delicious.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup softened butter
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg. (4 oz. serving) instant chocolate pudding
2 eggs
1 pkg. (12 oz.) chocolate chips (I used half a bag of mini chips)

Directions:

Combine butter, the sugars, vanilla and pudding mix in large
bowl. Beat until creamy.

Then beat in eggs.

Gradually add in flour, baking soda, and chocolate chips.

Um..I was so excited about these cookies, that I forgot to take pictures of every step...

Batter will be stiff.

Drop by teaspoonful, about 2 inches apart on un-greased cookie sheet

(I used parchment paper)

Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

(They might look slightly underdone when you pull them out, but they'll set perfectly.)

I got 28 cookies using my medium Pampered Chef cookie scoop.

A huge THANK YOU to my fabulous MIL for sharing this delicious recipe!

Something you should know...

For our wedding, I used vanilla pudding mix for these, cause we had a completely different cookie that sort of looked like this, and I wanted the table to have a variety. I love this recipe with both types of pudding. Using the vanilla pudding mix will produce a lighter colored, more classic looking chocolate chip cookie, but believe me when I say they taste AMAZING. Using the chocolate pudding mix, will produce a richer chocolate flavored chocolate chip cookie.

I recommend you try it with both!