Easy Chocolate Orange Pie & Apple Pie Martini #LMDConnector

You know, when I was growing up, it was cold enough outside to skate on the bay before Christmas, and there was always enough snow on the ground to go tobogganing during the Christmas holidays. Sadly, that's almost never the case anymore.  But. We'd all get all bundled up in our gear and wrap our knit scarves around our necks and mouths and noses and pull our mittens up to our elbows and head out for hours of fun in the cold & snow. Eventually, we'd traipse back in through the basement door, shed our soggy gear by the furnace and trundle upstairs, where my mom would be putting the finishing touches on a pot of orange hot chocolate. Real hot chocolate, with scalded milk, melted chocolate, and a touch of orange juice concentrate. In short, heaven in a mug.
The year that I discovered Terry's Chocolate Oranges was a great one. It was like someone had taken my mom's orange hot chocolate and made it into a chocolate bar. Nice. How it didn't make it into chocolate bar form before that astounds me. Chocolate + oranges = taste explosion. Chocolate is Life Made Delicious.

While at my mom's place this weekend, I requested a recipe for her Broken Windowglass Cake that she makes every Christmas. In response, my mom handed me this book:

I had a fantastic time looking through it and snapping pics of various recipes - Such bizarre and wonderful, unique recipes that I haven't seen anywhere on Pinterest yet. I have my eye on an Eggnog Pie for dessert this Sunday.
This particular recipe caught my eye because it was entitled "Lemon Cake-Pie." {Yes, I know. It says Lemon, and this is clearly a chocolate orange pie. We'll get to that.} Have you ever watched Drop Dead Diva? It's a completely ridiculous, but also wonderfully entertaining TV show, clearly marketed to those of us who like Chick Flicks, about an aspiring model who dies in a car crash but ends up back on earth in the body of an intelligent plus-size intelligent 30 year old lawyer. And she has a guardian angel named Fred following her around. Anyhow. Her best friend Stacey 'invents' a pastry that she christens the "Pake" - a Pie-Cake.  Half pie, half cake. Well sorry, Stacey, but this has apparently been around well before you were born!
Anyhow. This was supposed to be a lemon pake recipe. I wanted to try it, but I also wanted chocolate. And I had an orange in the fridge from the Santa Claus Parade. What follows is the recipe that I adapted. It may look long, but trust me, it's not complicated - I managed to make it during the witching hour with the kiddos under foot - and trust me, that's saying something.

Chocolate-Orange Pie
Ingredients: 

• 1 unbaked 9" pie shell (I used a refrigerated Pillsbury crust)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 eggs, separated
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp orange zest (roughly what you get from zesting or grating 1 medium orange)
• 3 tbsp orange juice (roughly what you will get from squeezing 1 medium orange)
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, melted & brought to room temperature
• 3/4 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Cream together sugar and butter.
3. Beat egg yolks and add to creamed mixture.
4. Add flour, orange zest & juice, melted chocolate, & milk.
5. Beat egg whites until stiff (but not dry) peak forms. Fold into chocolate mixture.
6. Pour into pie shell, bake in 425 oven for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 325 and bake another 45 minutes, or until filling is mostly set.
7. Chill completely. For tastiest results, let sit for 24 hours before serving to allow the flavours to fully come out.

This is a simple and very tasty wintry, holiday drink to serve to your guests after dinner. It really does taste like an Apple Pie in a glass. With a bit of a kick. If you like your drinks strong, you may want to add an extra 1/2 oz of vodka.

Apple Pie Martini

Makes 4-5 martinis.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Apple Cider
• 2 cups Apple Juice
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks

Directions for Apple Pie Syrup:

1. Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan on the stove.
2. Bring to a boil. After 5 minutes, remove cinnamon sticks from the pot & set sticks aside.
3. Turn stove down and simmer until the juices have reduced by at least 1/2. 
4. Cool thoroughly.

To serve:

• Mix 2 oz Apple Pie Syrup with 1 oz vodka. Serve in martini glass and garnish with cinnamon stick.

Looking for more dessert recipes? Check out these from Life Made Delicious: 

French Silk Chocolate Pie

Holiday Chocolate-Mint Pie

Chocolate Ganache Pie

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.