BVC Eats: Pumpkin chocolate pie

This is a pretty pedestrian pie, except it has my secret ingredient, unsweetened baking chocolate. I don’t know why, but ordinary pumpkin pies always seem kind of … insufficient. The chocolate hits those spots on the palate that feel lonely in my mouth when I eat pumpkin pie.

Did you know that most of the canned pumpkin sold in the US is not pumpkin at all, but sweet potatoes? As you probably know if you have ever tried to cook up your own pumpkin puree from the fresh fruit, real pumpkin tends to be unreliable in the sweetness and flavor departments, and can have nasty, challenging strings that absolutely won’t soften when cooked. Perhaps in acknowledgment of this, or perhaps because pumpkins are a pain to grow and highly seasonal, manufacturers have decided that sweet potatoes perform just fine, and nobody seems to care.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Make a large unbaked pie crust and place it in a 12” or 13” pan.

In a bowl, beat thoroughly:

2 cups canned pumpkin puree (one 29-oz can)
3/4 to 1 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup whole milk or heavy cream
1 or 2 squares of unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
1 t vanilla extract
1 t ground cinnamon
½ t salt
½ t ground ginger
¼ t ground allspice
1/8 t ground nutmeg

Some people add 1/8 t ground cloves. I personally abominate cloves. Your mileage may vary.

Beat 2 eggs separately until light-yellow and foamy, then add them to the rest of the batter. Beat all that thoroughly.

Pour all that into the pie crust and bake at 425 for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, reduce heat to 275 and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Most people make their pumpkin pie a day early and chill it, so they can serve it cold.