Boldly Going Where No Chocolate Pie Has Gone Before!

     My food blogger friend, Chinmayie, from over at LoveFoodEat created a luscious chocolate mousse pie with a secret ingredient.  Listen up, folks, I'm about to spill the beans... It's beets!  I made it a few weeks ago and discovered how super easy and super yummy it is.  You would never know there were beets in it.  Don't get me wrong, I can go to town on some beets.   Roasted, they're one of my favorite vegetables.  But this pie, it's just pure, smooth, chocolate yum all in your mouth.  The beets are purely for texture.  The crust is very simple, just 5 ingredients, so when I found gluten-free hazelnut flour at my farmer's market, this pie sprang to mind immediately.   I finally made it last week when I had a friend over for dinner who is eating a gluten-free diet.  I was surprised how well this converted!  Chinmayie was kind enough to allow me to re-blog her recipe with my updates. I also converted my cornbread recipe, and I'll be posting that soon!

But for right now...

Gather your ingredients, cuz it's Pie Time!!  *Squeeee!*

For the crust:
    * 1 cup hazelnut flour
    * 2 tbsp cocoa powder
    * 4 tbsp sugar (I used Sucanat)
    * ¼ cup coconut oil
    * 3-5 tbsp cold water

Grease a pie pan with coconut oil.  If your coconut oil is liquid, first place it in the freezer/refrigerator till solidifies (mine is always solid except on the very hottest days). Mix the flour, cocoa powder, and sugar until combined, then incorporate the coconut oil slowly with your fingers. When it resembles bread crumbs, add enough cold water to make dough.  Press it into a pie pan with your fingers as you would a graham cracker crust.  Bake at 410°F for 8-10 minutes or till firm. Let it cool completely.

 

 For the mousse:
    * 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate
    * 1 large beet (or 2 medium size)

Peel and cube beet.  Cover with water and boil till soft, then drain and blend into a smooth purée. Melt the chocolate, using a double boiler, till smooth. Turn off the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. Now add 1/2 C of the beet purée and mix well. Pour this chocolate/beet mixture into the prepared pie crust and smooth the surface with a spoon.  Refrigerate overnight.  Whereas, the regular wheat crust version of this pie is ready in a couple of hours, this pie really needs to sit overnight in the fridge.  It helps the crust release from the pan a little easier.  Another thing that might help in this regard is to dust the pan with a little gluten-free flour after greasing it, but I haven't tried this.

Notes:
In the filling, I used 1/2 C Scharffen Berger 70% Cacao Baking Chunks and 1/2 C 62%.  I have also used plain old grocery store generic semi-sweet chocolate chips, which work just as well or better.

Review:
You don't want to miss this one, friends!  Thank you, Chinmayie, for sharing this recipe and allowing me to adulterate it shamelessly.  For those of you who aren't gluten-free, try her original recipe.  You won't be disappointed!