No-Bake Chocolate Kahlua Pecan Pie

This recipe comes from the mom vault.

I came across it, written in faded teeny tiny cursive, on a tattered and stained Strawberry Shortcake recipe card that I had stashed in a manila folder when I moved to California three years ago.  When I asked mom about it, she literally gasped out loud and said she hadn’t thought of the recipe since the last time she made it…about twenty five years ago. She said she probably scribbled it down from another flight attendant on some international flight in the early eighties. Somehow the recipe card made it’s way into her black hole drawer of recipes, never to be seen again. That is, until I “borrowed” it three years ago — which, for the record, I never remember doing.

I also never remember “borrowing” her peep toe black heels but somehow, those too, made their way into my closet. How strange!

Naturally, curiosity was killing me so I had to make it immediately! And it ended up being so delicious that I had to take it straight over to a girlfriend’s house {or else I would have eaten the whole thing myself in an hour}, where we drank pear cider and ate this pie straight out of the dish with lots of whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings. No plates required.

The crust is just brilliant so let’s talk about that first.

Toasted pecan bits. Butter. Sugar. Kahlua. Salt.

All the major food groups! And no need to even bake it — you just assemble it then stick it in the freezer for an hour. I thought it might be a little weird unbaked {sort of like an unbaked graham cracker crust?} but it worked. It just did. And I wouldn’t change a single thing about it!

And then the filling. Pure, silky chocolate mousse spiked with some strong coffee and Kahlua. Need I say more?

For those of you worried about the eggs in the recipe, they are actually cooked when you beat them into the hot chocolate over the double boiler for about ten minutes. The end result is a thick, creamy chocolate sauce that firms up in the fridge. I probably should have let my mousse firm up a bit more before taking these photos, but the light was perfect…and I was hungry.

Thanks, mom! And unknown flight attendant lady from 1982 whose original recipe this was. My chocoholic self thanks you greatly.

And just a reminder! I will be signing books in Atlanta TOMORROW at the Barnes and Noble tent at the Taste of Atlanta at 4:45pm. See y’all there!

No-Bake Chocolate Kahlua Pecan Pie

serves 8

Print this Recipe!

Ingredients:

for crust—

2 cups finely chopped, toasted pecans {you could pulse the pecans in a food processor for a moment to grind, but it’s not necessary)

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 {heat on low} 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— when in doubt, beat more, but make sure your eggs have not curdled.

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 in the chocolate mixture, while folding with a rubber spatula. Be sure not to mix — gently fold the two together. You want to keep as much air as possible and not deflate the whipped cream.

Pour the mousse into the frozen crust and place in the fridge for four hours or overnight. Serve with chocolate shavings (use a vegetable peeler and a bar of chocolate for that!) and whipped cream.

Time:

active time — 30 minutes

total time — 6 hours or overnight