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I never knew what to call this, but it is so good, we said it was the end-all be-all of all known pies, so it became known as THE Pie. I also have another recipe called THE Chicken, but it is not very heart healthy, so we don't eat it very often....
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For the crust:
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Note regarding the butter: I guess margarine would work, but organic unsalted butter is my fave.
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Preheat oven to 350F. Mix crust ingredients together and press into pie pan. Cook for 15 or so minutes until it starts to brown and remove from oven.
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First Layer:
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Heat ingredients in a saucepan over low heat until melted and pour into crust.
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Second Layer:
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To toast your pecans, melt some butter and pour into an oven safe dish and toss the pecans lightly to coat them with the butter. Then put them in the preheated oven and toast them until brown-er...you know, since pecans are already brown they will just be brown-er... You can do them as halves, pieces, or chopped....I don't think it really matters as long as they are not whole in the shell. But anyone that tries to use whole pecans in the shell probably doesn't need to be cooking to begin with.
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Place the toasted pecans on top of the melted caramel mixture. Let cool.
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Third Layer:
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Mix together ingredients with mixer and spread on top of the COOLED caramel/pecan layer.
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Fourth Layer:
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This is a two-step layer.... in this layer we are basically making chocolate whipped cream. This is really easy so long as you pay attention to this really important part: YOU HAVE TO LET THE CHOCOLATE COOL before you add it to the whipped cream. Otherwise, your fresh whipped cream deflates/melts and the chocolate separates and then you might be tempted to swear or cry. It can get really ugly. There was some serious wailing and gnashing of teeth in my kitchen once. It was only because I had really talked this pie up to my Mom and was trying to pull off this fabulous dessert and showcase my grand culinary skills and it ended up being the ugliest pie I ever made. My mother was very gracious in trying to repair my damaged ego and told me how good it was despite the way it looked. So you HAVE to let the chocolate cool.
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Okay, back to the program. Melt the chocolate and 2 Tablesp0ons of heavy cream together in saucepan over very low heat or in a double-boiler if you are fancy enough to have such a thing. Then let it cool while you are making the whipped cream.
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Mix together the 1 pint of whipping cream and powdered sugar with a mixer on high speed until you have whipped cream. Divide in half.
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To one half, gently fold in the cooled melted chocolate until you have fabulous chocolate whipped cream and spread on top of the cream cheese layer.
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Fifth Layer:
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The other half of the whipped cream. Spread on top of the chocolate whipped cream. YUM.
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Finally, I suppose the sixth layer is optional. However, the way I see it....if you have made it this far - seeing as how the pie only has somewhere in the neighborhood of 64 fat grams per slice - you may as well just go ahead and proceed to:
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Sixth Layer:
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Grated chocolate. I usually use Hershey bars and a plain ole cheese grater. However, you can use the other half of that Baker's semi-sweet bar as well.
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Happy Pie!
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~~ Gena Leigh Pounders
