This, my friends, is all about improvisation. I know I’ve probably bored you guys to tears already about the Christmas power outage, but I can’t help it. It’s life. It happened. No ignoring or denying allowed!
But that’s neither here nor there. What I WISH was here was some of this crazy oatmeal pie – which, thankfully, I made before the power went out!
As with all great stories, we have to start from the beginning. My parents live in a neighborhood in Texas where there are pecan trees galore. Being the awesome and very smart people that they are, they take grocery bags with them when they jog and pick up the pecans that have fallen from the trees (with permission of course) and get them shelled at a local pecan shelling place.
SO. What would actually be approximately $1,987,097.76 worth of pecans costs them a teensy percentage for the shelling. And that also means that we get some of those home-grown, fair-trade, organic, hand-harvested Texas pecans for free!
YAY!
However, in the frenzy of my parents packing for their trip to see us over Christmas the pecans were lost in the shuffle and therefore left at home in Texas. And then my mom rocked my world.
YOU CAN USE OATMEAL IN PLACE OF PECANS IN PECAN PIE. Clearly it’s not actually a “pecan pie” at that point, but really – it’s mind-blowing.
Add a few chocolate chips and you’ll almost totally forget that the pie is made of oatmeal.
You guys, I know everyone is healthifying in the new year. We are too. But I think we all know that every now and then you just need some stinking pie. Or maybe you need a dessert to take to a Super Bowl party. Or maybe you’ve decided you’re healthy enough!
Whatever the reason, this is IT. The culmination of all good things pie!
CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL PIE
Makes 1 pie, about 8 servings
- 1 9-inch pie crust (mine was store-bought)
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 3 whole eggs
- 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oatmeal
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350. Press the pie crust into a 9-inch pie pan and fix the edges however you like. Pour the chocolate chips evenly into the bottom of the pie crust. In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Whisk in the corn syrup, vanilla, and eggs until smooth. Fold in the oatmeal. Pour the entire mixture evenly over the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes until the pie is just set, tenting the edges of the crust with foil if you need to keep it from browning too much. Let pie cool completely before serving!
This looks so beautiful and decadent. It reminds me of pecan pie except with chocolate instead of nuts. <3 SWOON.
pinning!! 😀
Yay! Thank you Abbie 🙂 It really is so yummy and decadent!
I AM SO DOING THIS! Um, my funny story rocks too. Here in Central Texas all our pecans were moldy and didn’t make this year. So while I was out in West Texas, I collected a huge grocery bag full of them from a friend’s tree. Well, my dear sweet husband “didn’t know ” where this bag came from (HEL-lo) so he gave them to a homeless man wandering around our neighborhood picking up nuts. You see, some people collect nuts, even in the years they don’t make, because you can still sell them. Companies buy even the bad nuts and crush them and use the crushed shells as ingredients in different items. *SIGH* – my mom felt so bad for me, she gave me a bag of shelled pecans from her freezer.
So anyways, I will be making this, as now I don’t want to use up my precious freezer stash. 🙂
HA! That is definitely a good story – and YES you have to try this! Save those pecans til you can’t save ’em anymore 😉
Wow!!! amazing recipe!
That’s so smart to pick up their own fresh pecans for much cheaper. I bet they make this pie even more delicious! It looks mouth-watering.
I can’t wait to try this! And 1/3 cup chocolate chips is code for 2/3 heaping cup chocolate chips, right?
You know it 😉
You know this is pretty genius right?
Oh I love this…Actually sounds even better than Pecan pie to me! (no offense to any pecan lovers…but I love oatmeal anything!)
I’m thinking I could probably use gluten free oatmeal and make this while my parents are in town (Dad was recently diagnosed w/ celiac…so we’re all learning gluten free here. :))
Thanks and aloha
oy. i may have to stop reading your blog during my new GPP challenge, haha!
Maybe I could try to convince my family that the oatmeal is actually a bunch of teeny-tiny pecans? 😉
I mean, if I’m being honest, I’d totally buy that 😉
I’ve never heard of an oatmeal pie (well, other than the Little Debbie kind, which just isn’t the same) — sounds awesome!
I hadn’t either! It’s so surprisingly delicious!
Who knew? This looks amazing! For the record, I’m so NOT going all healthy for the new year. I’m doing what I always do and I think this pie fits in perfectly to my diet 🙂
My kinda gal 😉
this looks so delicious!