Mrs. Mary's Spicy Chocolate Buttermilk Pie

Having a 'fan' page on Facebook for an ongoing commentary on a slice of life in the Deep South has been an incredible blessing.  Folks (much preferred description than fans) come by to say "Hi" and mostly stick around.  A handful leave, the slice of life not always palatable.  It's okay.  I've left a few pages behind, myself.  The people at FB?  They're not fans:  they're friends.  They comment, share links, like photos of cakes, love Mama (a biggie in my book).  We're there for each other like long-lost kissing cousins.

They've become real friends too:  call-up-on-the-phone-and-talk-'til-the-battery-dies friends.  Mrs. Mary is one of those friends.  Weeks and weeks ago we were chatting on FB about favorite pies and the developing trend of fine chocolates with a heat source in them and she piped up with a comment about a chocolate buttermilk pie with a little pop to it;  then she came up with a recipe!

Despite having adhered to a very strict diet for going on four months,

this piece of pie broke extreme will-power as if it

had never existed.  I ate it.  And licked the plate.

It's a little different from the buttermilk pie usually made here.  This recipe has no flour but twice as many eggs.  It does have a smooth but coarse-custard texture (probably from the cocoa powder?) and is ever so bewitching that I'm having a difficult time not evening up the edges on it (a sure way to consume half of it at one sitting).  And the cayenne in it??? ohhhh wowzers.  It's not hot.  It's a warmth that develops on the tongue after the first few bites that makes the chocolate a deep richness that's indescribable.  Really!

Those are the ingredients in the photo but just in case they won't load for you here's a list:
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, melted

3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 eggs, beaten until lemony-yellow light

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I know - the dry erase board has tablespoon)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
TWO unbaked deep dish pie shells 

Melt chocolate chips in microwave, set aside (oops - use your imagination to see chocolate chips in the microwave please).

Combine all dry ingredients and stir thoroughly.  

See the vanilla in the medicine dispenser?  They're awesome

for being able to measure flavors in to prevent fumbling with

spoons at the last moment.

And don't forget the cocoa powder to stir in too!  Take extra care to make sure all lumps from the cocoa powder have been broken up and all the dry ingredients are well-mixed.

Most everybody knows dark chocolate is favored here at Mayree's.
This is Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder.
Use what you and your family loves.

Beat eggs until a light lemon-ish color and almost foamy.

Any time the hand mixer is out and being used, the mixing gets done

with the bowl down in the sink.  A bunch of wiping from splatters on

the kitchen walls and cabinets is saved by doing this.

Very slowly add dry ingredients until all are well-incorporated.

I ran out of hands to take a photo of the slow process.

It's smelling fine already!

Mix in the melted chocolate chips.

The intense flavor from the dark chocolate chips is called for in this recipe 

but if you really only like milk chocolate or

**shudder** white chocolate, by all means, go for it.

Add the buttermilk

And the vanilla, giving it one last mixing.

Pour into two unbaked deep dish pie shells.

Don't give me a hard time about not making my own crusts:

I don't have to do everything.

Bake at 350 Fahrenheit for approximately 40 minutes (my oven is a little cool so it may take less time) until the centers are set.  A knife will come out clean when they're done.

 These crusts are full.  Do yourself a favor and put them in
another pan to bake them in.  They didn't bake over,
but the possibility is definitely there.

I couldn't wait until they cooled until even warm.  I ate it hot!

 This piece of pie contains more refined sugars in one slice
than I've put in my body since the Fambly Reunion the
first weekend in June.  And it was worth ever
gram of it!

There you have it!

The top has a playful crunchy crust on it that belies the custard-y and densely-chocolate-y richness beneath.  There's the barely tale tell flavor of the traditional buttermilk pie but it's secondary to the chocolate.  And the cayenne and cinnamon?  I used Penzey's Ceylon Cinnamon but wish I had used their Vietnamese cinnamon to give a stronger presence.  The cayenne is just the right amount.  This small amount isn't hot at all, truly enriching the dark chocolate and leaving a warmth on the tongue that's absolutely exquisite.

This isn't a difficult pie to put together at and the recipe makes TWO (a bonus in my book).  Make your family one this evening.  Better yet, make yourself one this evening.   You'll be glad you did.

Y'all enjoy!

Mary

Ann's Hot Buttered Rum

Guess who's favorite flavor of Lifesaver is buttered rum?  I'll give you three guesses;  first two don't count.  Me?  Did you guess me?  You're RIGHT!  Needless to say, it was a pleasant surprise, becoming an adult (or at least grown) and discovering there really is such a thing as buttered rum.  X's mother made it.  I drank it, discovering pleasurable aspects to being an adult not afforded the child eating Lifesavers of the same flavor.

It's the middle of winter with the Deep South's coldest weather on its way.  I'm not sure when, only that the end of January and February are cold.  You wouldn't know it from all the shorts and yard work in evidence today.  Beaudeux and I had the house wide open while we worked outside and drank sweet tea on the porch. 

Beau doesn't actually like or drink tea.  He'd much rather

have a dark beer on a hot day but it's a dry county and we've not been

in touch with our helicopter pilot to arrange for his beer drop yet.

Labradoodles are notorious sots.

I've been trying to get the buttered rum mix made since before Christmas.  I had everything the week before and a couple of Extra Fellows with Youngest Fellow came in needing bananas foster at midnight.  It took me a while to remember more ice cream at the Pig.  I remembered  last week and, with the surge of false wellness that accompanies a shot of glucocorticosteroid,  accomplished lots of yard work, lots of inside work, managed to make hot buttered rum, and even remembered to take pictures.  

You'll need:

One pound of butter

One pound of light brown sugar 

One pound of confectioner's sugar

Two teaspoons cinnamon

Two teaspoons nutmeg

One quart vanilla ice cream, softened.

Look at the pretty OLD jars I've been riding around all week.

I <3 these!  They're the ones rescued from the old barn

the almost-kinsman had.

Those are Knox, Crown, French's mustard, Kerr, and Atlas

jars.  The Knox, Crown, and mustard jar will not be canned in.

There were seven dozen quart jars and two dozen pint jars.

I'm proud to have them.  Jars are costly!

Combine butter, sugars, and spices until creamy.

Go ahead.  Taste it.  I did.  And I'm not sorry.

Stir in softened ice cream.

If you don't feel like waiting around for the ice cream to soften up,

by all means, cut it out.  Patience is a virtue wasted on  

buttered rum.  Be careful with the knife.  

Use three tablespoons of mix with jigger of rum and boiling water to fill cup.

That's a three pound storage container full.  Is it enough for a winter?

I dunno...  Certainly enough to share (but you've got to bring your own rum).

Time to sit down and figure out what's wrong with the computer while running 

a second quality control on the buttered rum recipe.  The first QC test ran cold...

This is good without the rum, too!  It's good with scotch, kahlua, frangelica, bourbon, but not gin (trust me).  Be mindful imbibers;  this will sneak up on you quickly.  It is good for what ails ya' but too much of it will BE what ails ya...

Y'all enjoy!