Pumpkin-Mousse Pie With Chocolate Crust

Ingredients

Chocolate Dough:
4 oz. butter
1/3 cup Dutch cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup pastry flour

Pecan Filling:
1 cup sugar
12 oz. pecans
2 tbs. cream
1 oz. rum

Pumpkin Mousse:
1/2 cup orange juice
1 oz. gelatin
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
3 cups pumpkin purée
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup whipped cream
1/2 lb. dark chocolate, in block

Instructions

Chocolate dough: In a stand mixer, soften the butter and mix with the cocoa powder and sugar. Mix well, then add a fourth of the flour and blend well. Add the ­remaining flour, and mix lightly. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrig­era­­tor. Sprinkle some flour on a counter to keep the dough from sticking. Roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thick, and prick the surface with a fork several times. Place in the ­bottom of a 9-by-4-inch springform pan. Bake the chocolate dough in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool.

Pecan filling: Place the sugar and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan, and boil until it begins to caramelize and turns amber. Immediately add the pecans, and stir, then add the cream and the rum while continuing to stir. Cover the chocolate crust in the pan with three-fourths of the candied pecans, reserving the rest for decoration.

Pumpkin mousse: Mix the orange juice and gelatin in a bowl, and allow the gelatin to bloom. Set in a double boiler, and gently heat until the gelatin has melted. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a mixer, and beat until peaks form. Add 1/4 cup sugar, and continue beating. Gradually add the remaining sugar while beating until the meringue is shiny. Add the pumpkin purée, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and orange-juice mixture to the meringue, and mix gently until combined. With a spatula, fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin mousse. Fill the springform pan with the mousse, set on a tray, and refrigerate overnight.

At serving time, wrap a hot towel around the outside of the ring. Gently pull the ring off the mousse pie. Top the pie with shavings from the dark-chocolate block, and garnish the sides of the mousse with the remaining pecans. (Published 2013)