Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

"Now I love a traditional pecan pie, and I’ll eat a slice any time of the year. However, I put a couple of fun spins on this Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. First of all, chocolate. I stirred some chocolate chips into the pie along with the pecans. Delicious! I served this pie cold, so the chocolate chips stayed fairly solid. However, the texture from the chocolate chips was a nice addition. An alternative here might be to melt the chocolate chips and then stir the melted chocolate into the pie filling. For me, the solid chocolate chips is the way to go. And bourbon. Talk about a fun twist on a classic dessert! I mentioned in a post last year that I’ve started using vodka as the liquid in my pie dough. (Ironically, it was in this post for a classic Pumpkin Pie.) Alcohol doesn’t form gluten the same as water. This means that pie dough made with alcohol will be flakier and lighter thanks to the absence of gluten. Normally, vodka is used as it is the most neutral of alcohols, but this time I used bourbon. I also mixed a couple tablespoons of bourbon into the pie filling. The result was amazing! There is a noticeable hint of bourbon flavor in this Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie, but it wasn’t overpowering at all. In fact, taken together with the pecans and chocolate, this dessert was delicious. It’s definitely become a new favorite here in our house!"