Pecan Pie Truffles

1. Roughly chop the chocolate and place in a large bowl.
2. In a sauté pan, toast 1 cup of pecans until they become fragrant. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add molasses, bourbon, and half-and-half.
3. Over medium-low heat, simmer pecan mixture 5 minutes, allowing the flavors to infuse the cream. Increase heat until the cream is boiling; strain through a fine mesh sieve. Working quickly while it is still hot, slowly pour the cream over the chocolate while stirring. Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Cover the bowl and chill in the refrigerator 1 hour, or until solid.
4. Bake pie dough to golden brown; cool. Break the dough into the bowl of a food processor with the remaining cup of pecans; pulse until it becomes crumbs. Scoop cooled chocolate into tablespoon-size balls. If too firm, let stand at room temperature until soft enough to scoop.
5. Roll balls in the pecan and pie dough crumbs and place on a plate. Repeat until all the truffles are formed and coated with crumbs. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Serve with a glass of cold milk.

Tips + Tricks:

• When you add the cream to the pecan pieces in the sauté pan, it might appear that the cream has curdled but when you pour it through the fine mesh sieve it will catch any lumps.
• If you do not want to wait for the chocolate to harden the first time, you can easily skip that step and use the melted chocolate as a ganache between layers of cake, as a topping for cupcakes, or as a grown-up sundae sauce. Use leftover crumbs as a delicious texture contrast to the velvety smooth sauce.