Make spirits bright with a slice of eggnog pie! A layer of rich chocolate covers the pecan cookie crust for a delicious twist on this quintessential holiday flavor.

Eggnog is a mainstay of the season and I miss it when the holidays are over. Come January, it slowly disappears from the dairy case, not to return until Santa does next year. We’ve been relishing this treat nightly with gingersnaps around a cozy fire. It’s like our own tiny celebration of the season.
This pie offers a different way to celebrate with eggnog – a sliceable version wrapped in a pecan cookie crust. It’s rich with a bottom stripe of chocolate and lots of whipped cream on top.

Nearly a whole package of Keebler Pecan Sandies and a little melted butter make the crust for this pie. It’s a simple foundation that gets a quick bake. Chocolate chips are scattered across the bottom of the hot crust and melt quickly for the ‘black bottom’.

This recipe doesn’t use commercial eggnog as an ingredient, it’s a scratch-made affair that deserves plenty of whipped cream and freshly grated nutmeg on top, just like any good glass of eggnog should be enjoyed.

A hefty dose of bourbon in this pie keeps with tradition, but if you’re serving this to kiddos or have other considerations, replace the bourbon with an equal amount of whole milk.

Black Bottom Eggnog Pie
Equipment
- 9 inch pie plate
Ingredients
- 2 cups 200 grams ground pecan shortbread cookie crumbs
- 1/4 cup 57 grams unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup 85 grams semi-sweet chocolate morsels
- 2 1/4 cups 532 ml heavy whipping cream
- 1/3 cup 65 grams granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup 120 ml bourbon
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
- 1/4 cup 60 ml cold water
- 6 egg yolks lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream whipped to stiff peaks
- 3 whole pecan shortbread cookies
- More freshly ground nutmeg for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Stir together cookie crumbs and melted butter in a mixing bowl; press firmly into the bottom of a 9″ deep-dish pie plate. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove crust from the oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate morsels onto warm crust. Let stand 5 minutes or until morsels melt; carefully spread melted chocolate over the bottom of the crust with a spatula. Set aside to cool completely.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together whipping cream, sugar, bourbon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. Stirring constantly, heat the mixture until it steams but do not boil.
- Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a small bowl and let stand 1 minute.
- Whisk egg yolks lightly to break them up in a separate medium bowl. Gradually whisk 1/4 of the warm cream mixture into the bowl of egg yolks. Add the yolk mixture to remaining warm cream mixture in the pan, whisking constantly. Stir in the bloomed gelatin. Cook at a simmer 3 to 5 minutes, whisking constantly, until the gelatin is melted and the custard reaches 160°F on an instant read thermometer.
- Remove from heat, and stir in 1 tablespoon of butter until it melts. Cool custard filling to room temperature, about 25 minutes. Pour the filling into the crust. Chill pie in the refrigerator at least 4 hours or until firm.
- Transfer whipped cream to a piping bag fitted with an open star tip and pipe a thick rope of whipped cream around the outside edge of the pie. Crumble the 3 whole pecan shortbread cookies and sprinkle on top of the pie; sprinkle on ground nutmeg for garnish.
- Use a sharp knife and gentle pressure to slice pie, as the chocolate layer in the crust will harden as the pie chills in the refrigerator. This pie can be stored in the refrigerator up to one week.
HI Heather – Thank you for another great year of recipes. I really appreciated all of the flashback/thrifty recipes you posted in the early spring in the early days of COVID and then your Advent calendar of recipes this month – I always look forward to it! A few of your recipes are my go-tos. Hope you have a happy Christmas!
Thank you for the kindness – I hope to blog a little more often next year, and not just continually at Christmas -ha! Merry Christmas. I'm happy that some of my recipes are useful to you! xo-h
My chocolate layer became so hard could not slice. How do I fix that?
Hi Nancy,
So sorry to hear that you had trouble slicing! Let the pie stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes before cutting and use a large sharp chef’s knife. Next time you make the pie, you can melt the chocolate chips in the microwave with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (I like sunflower seed oil) before spreading it on the bottom of the pie. This is a fail-safe that will make the chocolate softer and easier to cut through when cold. I hope this helps! Thank you for trying the recipe.