Chocolate ginger sweet potato pie

From The Southern Harvest Cookbook: Recipes Celebrating Four Seasons by Cathy Cleary, to be relased from Arcadia Publishing in January

Serves 8

Crust:

4 tablespoons butter
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
1¼ cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon powdered ginger

Filling:

2 cups baked, peeled and mashed sweet potato
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup half-and-half
2 eggs
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup chopped crystallized ginger

Topping:

3 tablespoons half-and-half
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
¼ cup chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For the crust, melt butter in microwave or saucepan. Add chocolate chips and continue to melt, stirring until smooth. Combine with remaining crust ingredients and press into a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan.

For the filling, combine all ingredients in a bowl or electric mixer and mix well. Pour filling into crust and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Filling will be starting to brown on edges and will puff slightly in the center.

Meanwhile, heat half-and-half for the topping in microwave or saucepan. Add chocolate chips and continue to melt, stirring until smooth (Note: When melting chocolate, be sure to only use completely dry utensils — water causes chocolate to seize up).

Sprinkle pie with ginger and drizzle with chocolate sauce. Allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving.