Gluten free Chocolate Chess Pie

This season, with all its holiday baking has posed an interesting challenge for me in the kitchen. I've spent a fair amount of time looking over old recipes and trying to figure out what is worth it to just leave as is and what can be adapted without sacrificing taste. Adapting this classic pie was really an easy decision though; after figuring out a super simple, super delicious gluten-free crust the only other change I made to this recipe was to halve the amount of sugar. And to make this dairy-free, you can  sub Ghee for the butter.

This is absolutely one of my favorite desserts- the original recipe was handed down to me from a sweet friend at our old church (who had previously received the recipe from another friend at church); she brought us an amazing dinner crowned with this perfect pie after the birth of our daughter, almost four years ago, and it was an instant hit. If you are a chocolate lover, this may just become your new go-to dessert. 

Ingredients: 

6 tablespoons butter (6 TBS. Ghee for dairy-free)

1 egg

1 cup almond flour (blanched almond meal)

1 stick butter (OR 8 TBS. Ghee)

3 squares (2.5 oz) Baker's semi-sweet chocolate (sub 2.5 oz. Dairy free semi-sweet chips for dairy-free)

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

Pinch salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For crust: melt butter and cool to room temperature. Combine butter and egg and then add in almond meal. Stir to combine. Grease pie dish and spread pie crust dough over the bottom and sides, pressing with fingers. Bake crust for 10 minutes in preheated oven. Blot any excess butter/Ghee with a paper towel.

For the filing: In a medium mixing bowl combine eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat or whisk for a minute. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and chocolate together. Once melted, add chocolate/butter mixture to egg mixture and stir to combine. Poor mixture into pie crust and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, loosely covering the pie with foil halfway through so pie crust doesn't get too brown. Once finished, allow the pie to rest for 2-3 hours before cutting, this will give the eggs time to set up.