Christmas is in two days…do you have your dessert all settled yet?! I know, its been nuts the last couple weeks, but don’t worry, I gotchu! Today I’m sharing my all-time favorite wintertime pie recipe that I make every holiday season and my guests rave over each year. This Chocolate Cashew Maple Pie is pretty much like a pecan pie but a major upgrade. It is super decadent and chocolately, but the best part is, it is so easy to make! So let’s get domestic and make this thing, shall we?

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/4 cups pure maple syrup
• 6 tablespoons of butter
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 3 oz bittersweet chocolate (I usually use at least 60% cacao/dark chocolate) chopped up fine
• 1 1/4 cups unsalted roasted cashews
• Pre-made pie crusts, I like the Pillsbury but you can use whatever you’d like!

I’m just going to be real with you…I don’t make the crust homemade. If you are good at making pie crust from scratch, by all means, knock yourself out, but I personally think its a little too time consuming and I’ve not quite mastered this art yet, so I usually head to the pre-made roll out crusts at the grocery store. You can grab a crust in a pie shell, but I like to buy the roll out because it comes with two crusts, both of which I use in this pie…but I’m getting ahead of myself…we will get to that in a bit.

You’ll want to get your oven going so that its nice and hot when you’re ready to slip that pie in. Pre-heat to 325 F and you should be good to go by the time your pie is assembled. First things first: grab a medium sized saucepan and pour in your maple syrup. Turn the heat to medium-high, and let the maple syrup simmer uncovered until it is reduced down. You want to get it to about 3/4 cup, which usually takes about 10 minutes, give or take.

Next, whisk in your butter until completely melted, then follow that up with your brown sugar and salt.

Once all those ingredients are properly mixed, remove this pan from the heat. You need it to get to room temperature for the next phase of this pie recipe.

Next, you’ll want to grab your eggs and your brandy. I know, brandy is kind of a random liquor to have around the house, so I usually just buy a small bottle from the liquor store and it usually lasts me a couple years of baking this pie because you don’t need much. In case you’re concerned that alcohol in this pie may not be suitable for the underaged, don’t fret. Alcohol cooks out and leaves behind only its delicious flavors! Make sure you whisk your eggs and brandy well.

Next, I like to chop up my chocolate very fine. This is crucial because you want that chocolate to melt down quickly and evenly, so get chopping! I also like to do this step in this order because it gives your maple syrup/sugar/butter/salt concoction in your saucepan extra time to cool off.

Once you’ve chopped up your chocolate, you’ll spread it in an even layer in your delightly store bought pie crust (or home made one if you’re a total boss). After this, layer your cashews over the top of the chocolate pieces.

This next step is totally optional, but I love doing it because while yes, my pie crust may be store bought for this pie recipe, that doesn’t mean you can’t look like a total Martha Stewart wanna be. I found a cookie cutter that is a holly leaf, and take that second pie crust in the package and roll it out on a cutting board. I then take said cookie cutter and cut out a bunch of holly leaves.

After I’ve gotten as many holly leaves out of the dough as I possibly can, I take a butter knife and draw little veins on them, much like real leaves might have. Before I had this cookie cutter, I used to free hand the leaves, which you can always try if you’re feelin’ artsy. You can brush egg whites over the top of them for good measure to make them come out a little more golden brown. Again, this step is totally optional, but it really makes this easy pie recipe look like a total domestic goddess masterpiece.

Now its time to put the pie all together. I can’t stress this enough: wait until your maple syrup concoction is room temp! Do not by any means do this next step if it is still hot, because you’ll get this weird egg-drop soup effect when you pour the eggs in. Nobody wants little pieces of scrambled egg in their pie. So, once that mixture is nice and cool, take your egg mixture and pour it into your maple syrup mixture, whisking until completely combined.Next, you’ll just pour this combined filling into your pie shell. If you chose to not go full on Martha Stewart with the pie leaves, this is the part where you slip your pie into the oven. If you’re going for the masterpiece route, you’ll now want to arrange your leaves in whatever artful pattern you see fit.

Next, its time to bake! This pie takes about 45-60 minutes, but I usually take it out at 50 minutes. Don’t over bake, because once you take it out of the oven, it will continue to set a bit. You want this to be ooey-gooey, so erring on the shorter side of the time span is usually safest.

I hope you all enjoyed this pie recipe! Give it a try, it is so yummy, my guests ask for it year after year! With that, this is my last post before Christmas, so I wish you all a safe and happy day of love and laughter with your family and friends! Cheers!

This recipe was originally found here on Epicurious.com. It is slightly modified, but I want to give credit where credit is due!

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