93: Caramel Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

Hey peeps....made some caramel chocolate chip pecan pie today!! I know...Its a mouthful...but I just could not resist putting all the good stuff in there. Baked this for a pie contest I participating in :).

Recipe:

For a 9-inch pie crust,
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
¼ tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, grated with a cheese grater
3 Tbsp. very cold water

For the filling,

28 caramel candy

1 cup chocolate chips

¼ cup butter
¼ cup water
¾ cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, roasted

Combine and blend the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl.  Add in the cold grated butter and knead the mix. Mix in the cold water and continue kneading the dough, until the butter is completely worked into the flour. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 mins.  Remove from the refrigerator and roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 F. Roll out the dough gently into a 9-inch pie pan. Fold edges under, and crimp with fingers. Prick bottom and sides of pie crust with a fork. Bake the pie crust for 8 to 10 mins or until lightly browned; cool on wire rack.

Combine the caramels, butter, and water in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, 5 to 7 mins. or until caramels and butter is completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir together the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and nutmeg. Stir this into the caramel mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in  the pecans. Pour this into the prepared crust.

Bake pie at 400 F for 10 mins. Reduce heat to 350 F, and bake for 20 more mins, Remove pie to a wire rack to cool.

I ended up making 2 pies....one for the contest and another one for home....I had to eat my own pie!

Hope y'all are having a good week so far....I am so looking forward to the weekend...having crazy busy days at work...

P.S.: (Nov 24 2010) I won the Pie Bake Off!!

I am so Happy!!! I win my first bake off...