Baking Love

This is another recipe from Cookie Madness. Anna says it is from a restaurant called Z-Tejas and she found it at Pepperfool through Google. Chocolate and peppers go quite well together. I was looking for a recipe to make for my husband’s birthday and since he loves pies, this seemed perfect. The pie crust recipe is from my other grandmother (minus the gluten-free variation) and seems similar to Bette Hagman’s vinegar pastry, as seen on Ginger Lemon Girl, from The Gluten-Free Gourmet, Revised Edition.

I would imagine you could use ground red cayenne pepper if you couldn’t get anchos or ground ancho powder. It wouldn’t have the same smoky flavour, but it would have the heat. When I tasted the batter before pouring it into the pie shell, I got a small pleasant burn in the back of my throat, not overpowering at all.  Thanks Anna for sharing this recipe.

Pie Crust

85g (3/4 cup) gluten-free flour blend (I used teff flour, sweet rice flour, and arrowroot starch)

85g (3/8 cup, 6 tablespoons) butter or shortening

1 egg (may omit)

1 tablespoon vinegar

30 ml (1/8 cup, 2 tablespoons) cold water

Cut the butter or shortening into the flour until the bits are the size of small peas. Mix in the egg, vinegar, and water until just blended. Form the dough into a ball. Roll out on a floured surface. Makes one 23 cm (9 inch) pie crust.

Z-Tejas’ Chile Fudge Pie

2 teaspoons pureed ancho pepper (Anna suggests using ground ancho powder, if you can get it, if you can’t get the ancho pepper itself)

225g (1 cup) butter

120g (1 cup) mixed nuts (walnuts and pecans) toasted

2 eggs

115g (1/2 cup) caster sugar

100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar

60g (1/2 cup) gluten-free flour blend

175g (1 cup) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips

1 23 cm (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

First, make the ancho puree. Remove stem and seeds from one ancho chile. Put it in a saucepan with about 5 cm (2 inches) of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until ancho is tender. Place in a food processor to puree.

Preheat the oven to 160C (325F). Melt butter and cool to warm-do not let it cool completely. It needs to be warm enough to melt the chocolate chips when you add them.

In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs well. Beat in both sugars, then add flour and stir until smooth. Add warm butter, chocolate chips, chile puree, and nuts.

Pour filling into unbaked pie shell and bake for 40 to 60 minutes or until done. Mine took 80 minutes. I may have overbaked mine by 10 minutes or so though. Let cool completely. Enjoy!