Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Per Sharon's request, here is the recipe for the pie. :-)  It's from "Mrs. Field's I Love Chocolate! Cookbook."

We use a frozen pie shell (shhhhhhh....that's a secret!)

The filling:

1 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1 T plus 1 t flour

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

1/4 t salt

1/2 t ginger

1/8 t cloves

1 large egg

1 large egg white

2 T vanilla extract

One 15-oz can unsweetened solid-packed pumpkin puree

1 cup half and half  

Beat all that in a mixer (adding the pumpkin and half and half last, after mixing the other stuff a bit).  Pour into chilled shell and bake at 350 for 40 min or until center is set.  (It usually takes ours a lot longer!  Cook until a knife inserted in middle comes out clean.)  Cool on a rack until room temp.

Chocolate topping:

Place 4 oz semisweet chocolate (we use chocolate chips) in a small bowl.  In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup heavy cream and 2 T sugar to a simmer, then stir until the sugar is dissolved. Pour hot cream over the chocolate.  Let stand, covered, for 5 min.,  then stir until smooth.  Chill the chocolate topping mixture until thickened but pourable, about 30 min.

Pour the chocolate over the pumpkin layer and chill the pie until the chocolate is set, about 1 hour.

And there you have it!!  :-)