Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Made with Love

There’s a secret when it comes to this ridiculously good Chocolate Pumpkin pie: it’s pretty darn easy. I might have had a huge potluck dinner to go to last Saturday night, and maybe signed up for dessert, and let’s just pretend that I forgot about it entirely until late afternoon, day of the party. It’s times like this that I wished I had some grab bags like these Thanksgiving treats, but I was all out. This pie, however, made with a graham cracker crust and basic ingredients, came in clutch. All said and done, this Chocolate Pumpkin pie looked festive on my friend’s dessert table and was seasonally appropriate. Cindy: 1, Thanksgiving: 0.

Thanksgiving Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

THE GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST

Nothing is better than a good graham cracker crust. It doesn’t work with all fillings but it 100% works with this pumpkin and chocolate mix. Of course, the super shortcut is to purchase the crust from the frozen aisle at the grocery (where you can also find pre-made puff pastry dough). Classic Sweet Nerd style, I’ll walk you through making it from scratch. First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Making graham cracker crust from scratch

Crush your graham crackers – I used Honey Maid, an American classic – and crushed into a fine crumb. No big chunks, you need this finely ground. A food processor can help immensely here. Or, you can also find graham crackers crushed in the baking aisle. Genius, I tell ya.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugars, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.

Graham cracker crust

Firmly press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a deep 9 1/2-inch pie dish. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes, until firm.

Thanks Mucho!

Prep a bit of melted chocolate over a baine-marie, which is a double boiler or a water bath.  When the graham cracker crust has baked and cooled for 10 minutes,  pour in the melted high quality bittersweet chocolate chunks like Scharffen Berger over the bottom of the crust. Naturally, I played with the melted chocolate and wrote out thanks mucho before covering completely with chocolate. Let cool on a wire rack and make this easy filling

Melted chocolate on crust

THE CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN FILLING

In a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt high quality semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Scharffen Berger) and butter, and stir until smooth. Once well-mixed, remove from heat.

Mix up pumpkin and sugars

Next, mix the pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, eggs, cornstarch, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, dry malt powder (if you don’t have this on hand, don’t sweat it, just skip) and a pinch of cloves head into a medium bowl.

Mix chocolate and pumpkin mixture

Whisk 1/3 pumpkin mixture into the melted chocolate and butter. Then, add in remaining pumpkin mixture until completely incorporated.
Transfer pie dish to a rimmed baking sheet and pour pumpkin mixture into crust. Bake until center is set though still a bit wobbly at the knees, about 55 to 60 minutes. Let cool in pie dish on a wire rack. Stick it in the refrigerator until well-chilled, at least 8 hours. Sometimes when you remove a pie that has been sitting overnight, it might ‘sweat’ a bit.  That just means there are little beads of water that will form on the surface.  Not to worry, you can easily blot those away with a paper towel before you serve this beauty!

DECORATING THE CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN PIE

This is where you can add your own personal flair, or copy mine (by all means)! I found these sweet lopsided hearts by 3-d cookie cutter on Etsy and fit three per pie. First, roll out the puff pastry dough and cut out your shapes. Bake as directed on the package.

Drizzle Chocolate on Hearts

Add the baked decorations on the top of the pie, and remember – be creative! Drizzle and draw chocolate on the shapes on the top of the pie.

Puff pastry hearts for the top of the pie

This Chocolate Pumpkin Pie is ready for consumption! Enjoy having it on display on the Thanksgiving table, or bring it over to a friend’s for a cute and delish dessert. And I know from experience – it’s perfect for last minute!

Thanksgiving Pie with Hearts

OUR FAVES 

Thanksgiving Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Photos by: Maria Hedrick Photography

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Salty Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

By TheSweetNerd  

November 21, 2017

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped

Filling

6 ounce semisweet chocolate, chopped

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 tablespoon Hoosier Hill dry malt powder

Decorating

Store bought puff pastry

Directions

Crust

1Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugars, salt and cinnamon in bowl.

2Firmly press mixture into bottom and up sides of a deep 9 1/2-inch pie dish.

3Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes.

4Remove from oven, and sprinkle bittersweet chocolate over bottom of crust. Return to oven to melt chocolate, about 1 minute. Spread chocolate in a thin layer on bottom and up sides. Let cool on a wire rack.

5Reduce oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Filling

1In a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt semisweet chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat.

2Mix pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, eggs, cornstarch, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, dry malt powder and a pinch of cloves in a medium bowl. Whisk 1/3 pumpkin mixture into chocolate mixture. Whisk in remaining pumpkin mixture until completely incorporated.

3Transfer pie dish to a rimmed baking sheet and pour pumpkin mixture into crust. Bake until center is set but still a bit wobbly, 55 to 60 minutes. Let cool in pie dish on a wire rack. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 8 hours.

Decorating

1Roll our puff pastry and cut into whatever shape you'd like.

2Bake as directed on container.

3Add baked decorations on top of pie.

4Drizzle chocolate all over pie and serve.

00:00

 

16 Comments

  • Tessa
    7 years ago

    Thank you for giving me an alternative to regular pumpkin pie – and it looks easy, too!

    • Cindy "TheSweetNerd" Rodriguez
      7 years ago

      Hope you enjoy, Tessa!

  • I love this pie girl and your step by step photos make my life so much easier. How cute are those little toppers? I’m in love!

    • Cindy "TheSweetNerd" Rodriguez
      7 years ago

      Etsy helped me with those toppers – pretty unique, right?

  • 7 years ago

    I can’t recall ever seeing a chocolate pumpkin pie recipe like this. But it’s a great idea – sounds delicious!

    • Cindy "TheSweetNerd" Rodriguez
      7 years ago

      Thanks Jill – it’s really good.

  • 7 years ago

    What a lovely looking pumpkin pie! And those hearts just top it off perfectly!

    • Cindy "TheSweetNerd" Rodriguez
      7 years ago

      I love the hearts, too! Etsy yay!

  • 7 years ago

    Ooo that pumpkin pie looks so delectable! I’m one of the few who aren’t too fond of pumpkins unless it’s embedded in something else so Chocolate seems perfect for this! I’ll be putting this on my list!

    • Cindy "TheSweetNerd" Rodriguez
      7 years ago

      Yes! Please do try, I too was a little tired of the plain pumpkin. Thanks Lois!

  • 7 years ago

    That’s a gorgeous pie! I’ve always baked a pumpkin pie but never tried it with chocolate. Your post inspired me to try, so I’m pinning this recipe to try later.

    • Cindy "TheSweetNerd" Rodriguez
      7 years ago

      Thanks for the pin Diana! I hope you like the taste as much as the pics. 😉

  • 7 years ago

    Everything tastes better when it’s made with love! And with chocolate 😉

    • Cindy "TheSweetNerd" Rodriguez
      7 years ago

      So true, Tracy!

  • Lorna Soonhee Umphrey
    7 years ago

    Yum! Such a great alternative to the traditional pumpkin pie. What does the malt powder bring in terms of flavor? More robustness?

    • Cindy "TheSweetNerd" Rodriguez
      7 years ago

      Great question Lorna! Malt powder gives it texture and depth.

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