I make a chocolate pecan tart for my family every year at Thanksgiving. My brother really liked it the first time I made it several years ago, so I just kept making it. So now it's like, 'my thing.' Anyway, this year I made two - one at Thanksgiving for my family and another one for Dan's family, which I made last week while I was watching Spider Man (which was fabulous, by the way). I've changed up the recipe a bunch over the past few years, and a lot of people have asked me for it. So here it is:

Tools
9 -inch tart pan with removable bottom

Tart Crust
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 and a half sticks unsalted butter
3 or 4 tbs of ice water

Sift together the flour and salt. Cut butter into dime-size pieces and cut into the flour using either a butter knife or your fingers (I prefer using my hands) until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Then work the water into the mixture 1 tablespoon at a time (might as well use your hands for this too) until the mixture just barely holds together. (I usually end up needing just 3 tablespoons of water, but not always.) Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the counter, turn the mixture onto the plastic and shape into a ball. Chill for 45 minutes.

(You can start to make the filling while the dough is chilling.)

After the dough has chilled, roll it out into a circle that's a couple inches bigger than the diameter of the tart pan. (Quick hint: I roll the dough in between two pieces of plastic wrap. This makes sure that it doesn't stick to the rolling pin and is easy to lift off of the counter.) Line the pan with the tart dough. One way to do this is to lay the dough over your rolling pin, and then carefully lift the rolling pin over the pan, and fold the dough into it. Use the tips of your fingers to press the dough along the sides and down into the pan. Remove any excess by pressing the dough along the scalloped edge of the pan. If there are any holes or tears in the dough, patch them up. Cover the lined tart pan and chill for 30 minutes.

I often have enough extra dough to make a couple mini tarts. If you have mini tart pans, line them with the extra dough and chill.

Filling
3 oz Valrhona 70% dark chocolate, chopped
3 tbs unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 heaping cup of raw pecans, chopped
25 - 30 pecan halves for garnish

Preheat oven to 350. Melt chocolate and butter together in a double boiler and set aside. (To make a double boiler, place ingredients in a glass bowl, then fit the glass bowl over a small pot with an inch or two of water in it, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Stir the chocobutter mixture as you heat the pot until the water is steaming (but not boiling!). Remove the glass bowl from the steaming pot when the ingredients are almost completely melted, and continue stirring until fully melted. If you need more heat to fully melt the chocolate, just put the bowl back over the steaming water for another minute.)

Using a medium saucepan, stir maple syrup, corn syrup, and sugar over medium heat for 1 minute. Then bring it all to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Beat eggs. Add chocolate and butter mixture to eggs and stir vigorously until thoroughly blended. Add syrup and whisk. Add vanilla and pecans and whisk thoroughly. Let the mixture cool for 3 minutes.

Remove lined tart pan from refrigerator and place on a baking sheet (for easy transport to and from oven). Carefully pour the pecan mixture into the shell. Make sure pecan pieces are distributed throughout. Garnish with pecan halves. You will probably have some extra filling - pour any extra into mini tart shells, if you have them.

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool for 15 minutes. Carefully remove tart from tart pan. Serve at room temperature.

You can view larger versions of all the pix here.