A Dessert A Month

I happen to like chocolate....I think I better find a nice slow-cooker recipe for next time! I seem to gravitate towards desserts. Probably because I look for and try new and yummy sounding recipes since I am auctioning off a "Dessert A Month" to help our youth group raise money for their mission trip. They are having a big auction soon and all sorts of things are being auctioned. From yard work to free oil changes, to house cleaning to fully cooked meals -- and desserts!

So let me know what you think of this one. I try them all out first, of course! This tastes divine (well - without the pecans for me!) and my husband loves it! His favorite candy is Milk Chocolate Turtles, so it's perfect! And it's perfect for me because I don't like pecans, so I am not even tempted to eat it once it's put together! This is a little time consuming, so you would want to save it for a special night or when you have a bit of extra time to prepare it.


CHOCOLATE TURTLE PIE

Crust: I do it the easy way and purchase a cookie crumb crust!

Chocolate Filling:
1 C. heavy cream
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Caramel Filling:
1/4 C. sugar
1/3 C. water
1/2 C. heavy cream
5 T. unsalted butter
1/2 vanilla extract (use as good of stuff as you can!)
pinch salt
3/4 C. chopped pecans

Warm cream for choc. filling over medium heat until it just boils. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Cool.

Over low heat, stir sugar, and 1/3 C. water until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to a boil, swirling the pan around while cooking until amber colored - about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cream for caramel filling, butter, vanilla and salt. Mixture should bubble up and become lumpy. Return to low heat and stir until smooth. Pour into a bowl and chill for 30 minutes.

Pour half of the chocolate filling into the pie shell and sprinkle with pecans. Chill 25 minutes. Spread caramel filling over the pecans. Chill 15 minutes. Pour the rest of the chocolate filling over the top and chill for 30 minutes. Garnish the top with the rest of the chopped pecans, and maybe one or two large pecans. Serves 8-10, depending on how small you cut the pieces (they can be small!).

Oh - and speaking of turtles -- just in case you miss it -- check out the side bar for the picture of my 14 yr. old turtle. He has been with us for that long, anyway -- who knows how old he (she?) was when we got him. My son was going into second grade when Raph (named after the famed TMNT Raphael) came from Florida to live with us. Now my son is almost through with his second year of college! Raph is an easy pet -- and he likes it when I talk to him. He will come up out of the water in his aquarium and stand on his back legs. He is a red-eared slider!