market sunday

Another month, another market competition. This month it was best pumpkin or pecan pie. Two years ago I entered my pumpkin pie (I didn't win) - I was beaten by a traditional pie and a beautiful raw food, no sugar, no wheat, no dairy pumpkin mousse dessert. I hadn't made up my mind what to make for today's competition until I saw this recipe over at eatliverun. Last night I measured out the pecans, sugar, kahlua and butter that make up the crust and pressed the crumbs into a pie plate and put it in the freezer. While that was setting up, I melted the chocolate, added coffee and then kahlua and vanilla, beat up the whipped cream and then folded it all together. I did have a bit of a panic while folding the chocolate into the cream as my mixture didn't look nearly as dark as the pictures with the recipe. In the end I poured the chocolate mixture into the shell and put it all in the fridge.

my sleeve bears chocolate marks - I get into my baking!

There was quite a bit of mousse left over, which my husband sampled freely this morning. I crumbled some Cadbury flake over the top of the pie before taking it down for the competition. After all that it was slightly anticlimactic to be the only entry in the competition but people who tasted it seemed to enjoy it. I did. And for my efforts I won this lovely bunch of market goodies.

No Bake Chocolate Kahlua Pecan Pie (from eatliverun)
Ingredients:

for crust
2 cups finely chopped, toasted pecans
5 tbsp brown sugar, packed
5 tbsp butter, melted
2 tsp Kahlua
pinch of salt
for filling
6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp instant coffee
4 eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp kahlua
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
shaved dark chocolate and whipped cream for serving

Directions:
To make the crust, combine the finely chopped pecans, brown sugar, salt, melted butter and kahlua in a bowl. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated and then press down in a greased 9″ pie dish. Place in the freezer for 1 hour to harden.

To make the filling, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Add the coffee once the chocolate has melted, stirring well to combine. Keep the chocolate pot over the double boiler, on low heat and add the eggs, one by one. Keep whisking the eggs and chocolate continuously over low heat in the double boiler for ten minutes. The mixture should thicken slightly.
After about ten minutes of mixing, take the pot off the heat completely and add the kahlua and vanilla extract. Stir well.

Whip the cream to soft peaks. Slowly drizzle the chocolate mixture into the cream, while folding, gently with a rubber spatula.
Pour the mousse into the frozen crust and place in the fridge for four hours or overnight. Serve with chocolate shavings (peeled chocolate or flaked chocolate) and whipped cream.