MawMaw’s Chocolate Pecan Pie
My grandmother made the BEST Chocolate Pecan Pie. Her recipe has been lost for many years but I recently rediscovered it!
Read on to see how easy it is to make.
I am so excited to share this recipe with you all.
My MawMaw Light was a great baker. Â In my early 20’s, we lost my grandfather (who’s name was actually Bud Light – and my name is actually Crystal Light… and no, we weren’t named after drinks! haha The drinks came out after we were born) & my father within 6 months of each other. My grandpa had cancer so we knew it was coming, but my daddy was only 44 and his death came out of nowhere. It tore my entire family apart, especially my grandmother who lost her son and husband. They both loved her cooking and each time my grandmother saw a recipe that they liked, she threw it away. She passed away just a few years ago and when she passed, there were really no recipes left in her recipe collection. They were all gone.
As a widow myself, I can relate to removing items from your surroundings that cause you pain. I know I have my own share of items that I threw away when my husband died. Â I hate that MawMaw didn’t give the recipes to another member of the family instead of throwing them away – but in the same breath, I can’t imagine losing my child so soon after my husband.
Ok, enough sad – let’s get to the happy!
My aunt found some old cookbooks tucked back in her house while she was going through some things – some cookbooks from the local church she attended. My aunt doesn’t do much cooking so she gifted them to me. How excited I was to find some of  my grandma’s recipes in the local church cookbook! One of those recipes was the one I am going to share with you today – MawMaw Light’s Chocolate Pecan Pie.
I fondly remember this pie from my childhood. The chocolate layer is smooth and velvety and the pecan part is crisp, buttery, and absolute perfection.
This pie recipe makes two deep dish pies. You are welcome to cut the recipe in half so that it only makes one pie, but if you do that – I guarantee you’re gonna regret making just one after your first bite!
A fussy recipe this is not! All you do to prepare this is mix the handful of ingredients called for in a bowl & pour it into a prepared pie crust. My secret to an easy and foolproof pie crust? I buy frozen ones. haha 😉
What ingredients do I need to make Grandma’s Chocolate Pecan Pie?
Here’s your cast of ingredients:
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 stick of butter, melted
- 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 12oz can of evaporated milk
- 1 heaping cup chopped pecans
- 3 eggs
- 2 prepared deep dish pie crusts (I use frozen pie crusts)
How do I prepare this pie recipe?
You can go the extra step and toast the pecans in a little butter in a skillet first for an added layer of flavor, but this is not necessary and my grandmother never did it. If I have time though, I prefer to toast mine.
Mix all the pie filling ingredients together in a large bowl.
Pour into 2 deep dish unbaked pie crusts.
Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour.
Allow to cool before slicing.
MawMaw's Chocolate Pecan Pie
Ingredients
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 stick butter melted
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 12 oz can of evaporated milk
- 1 cup chopped pecans heaping cup
- 3 eggs
- 2 prepared deep dish pie crusts I use frozen
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
- Optional: toast the pecans in a hot skillet with a little butter, being careful not to burn. Let cool.
- Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Pour into 2 deep dish pie crusts. Bake for 1 hour at 300 degrees.
This looks so good! I will definitely be making this. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
That looks wonderful. So glad it was found and not lost for ever as you had thought and thank you so much for sharing. Definitely putting it on my list to try. I can’t begin to imagine the heartbreak of losing husband AND son. Their favourite foods must have reminded her of her loss everytime she cooked, and as you say, it is sad she didn’t give them to family members. Thowing away all her most treasured recipes in her heartbreak, while a great pity, makes perfect sense to me and reminded me in particular of the last verse of one of my favourite poems, “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” by W H Auden.
I’ve posted a link rather than the poem because it IS very sad and, while beautiful and moving, may not be something you want to read especially as you too have suffered an awful loss.
https://web.cs.dal.ca/~johnston/poetry/stopclocks.html
So, to only make one pie, what do you suggest for the eggs? I’d be the only one eating it, so definitely don’t need two. Sounds great though.
You can use two small eggs instead – or scramble one of the 2 eggs and pour half of it into another container for later use or discard.
Crystal, could you adopt me??? Laughing here…………….your cooking sounds divine….
It was worth a try (and a laugh)