Now, one particular bridge night, I was helpin’ Mama in the kitchen with hor d’ oeuvres. (A little in my mouth… and a little on the plate…) and as Mama was mixing the crabmeat dip, she told Daddy, “Now, Allan. I’ve been tryin’ to pry that Chocolate Bourbon Walnut Pie recipe out of Adella May for a month! You need to let her win a hand, and then ply that recipe out of her for me.” Daddy was shakin’ his martini canister and replied with a confident, “Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Iris. You’ll have your recipe before the night’s end – and we won’t even have to let her win!”
Well, Daddy’s martinis must have kicked in, because, by the end of the evening, Adella May had not only divulged the recipe but also confessed to a secret liaison with a good-lookin’ Major she had met at the officers club! Her husband was not too happy. But after the couple left, Daddy told Mama, “Now, Iris. Don’t you feel bad about gettin’ that recipe out of Adella May. Her husband’s known about that affair for months. He was just mad ‘cause he couldn’t beat us at bridge!”
Adella May's Southern Chocolate Bourbon Pie
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Southern
Serves: 6
PREP TIME
10 mins
COOK TIME
50 mins
TOTAL TIME
1 hour
INGREDIENTS
Pie Crust:
2 cups flour (unbleached or all-purpose)
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
1½ sticks unsalted butter (cut into half-inch chunks)
1 egg (beaten)
1 tablespoon evaporated milk
(OR you can just buy yourself a 9-inch deep-dish frozen pie crust and crimp the outer edge with your fingers to make it look homemade! ssshhh!)
Filling:
¾ cup semisweet chocolate morsels
1 cup dark corn syrup
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup bourbon (non-GMO bourbon, like Wild Turkey or Four Roses)
1½ cups chopped walnuts
4 large eggs
¼ cup butter (softened)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Pie Crust:
Throw your flour, sugar and salt into your food processor. Or you can also just mix it all up in a big bowl.
Add your butter and blend it by turning machine on and off until your mixture looks like little balls of coarse meal.
Whisk the egg and milk together in a small bowl and then add that into the processor mixture.
Blend it for a minute until moist clumps form.
Gather dough into a big ol’ ball and flatten it into a disk. Now, take it out and wrap that disk of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for about 1 hour.
After you prepare your filling, roll out the dough on a floured surface, and place in a 9-inch pie shell.
Crimp the edges to look pretty. Fork the bottom of the pie crust to avoid the bubbling up of crust.
Filling:
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Now, melt the chocolate pieces in a heavy pot over low heat.
Then, pour that chocolate, evenly, into the bottom of your unbaked pie shell. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, corn syrup, salt, sugars, butter, bourbon and vanilla.
Stir in the walnuts.
Pour the mixture into the chocolate-lined pie shell and bake until the filling is set, about 50 minutes.
Take your pie out of the oven and let it cool. Honey, my mouth’s waterin’ just tellin’ you about it! YUM!
NOTES
Dough can be prepared up to 2 days ahead of time. Just keep it refrigerated. When you take it out of icebox, let the dough soften some before you roll it out.