I’m not much of a chocolate fan, but Shawn is, and this was one he mentioned he’d like for Thanksgiving.  I’m glad he did…it was good enough that I enjoyed it as well!  Very rich, but not difficult and we all liked it a lot.  This is a Pioneer Woman recipe I made with no adjustments.  I did use store bought pie crust…the chocolate stole the show so it didn’t much matter. 🙂  It was perfect with some homemade whipped cream.

• 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened but still cold
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, cold

Use a pie shell of your choice and bake it; make sure it is completely cooled before adding filling.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the baking chocolate until stirrable (about 45 seconds on high). Set aside to cool.

It is important for the bowl and ingredients to be cold for the next stage of making the filling–to get the right texture and result. In a large chilled bowl with an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.

When the melted chocolate is cooled, drizzle it over the butter/sugar mixture. Add the vanilla extract. Beat the mixture thoroughly until combined (on a stand mixer, you will be using the whisk attachment).

Turn your mixer to a medium speed and over a period of 15 to 20 minutes, add in the 4 cold eggs, one at a time, leaving about 5 minutes between each egg addition. Once the pie filling is well mixed, pour it into the baked pie shell, scraping every last speck of it out of the bowl. Smooth out the pie filling and place the pie in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours (preferably longer).