Warm Carob Pie

The holidays were good overall.  I loved spending time with family, and felt good overall, definitely a blessing!  However, avoiding all the food was a drag.  I brought my own dish to most of the celebrations which always ensured that there was something I could eat.  My family is supportive, but the IC diet is just not something that is easy to explain.  Additionally, I HATE dictating a menu and requesting that special foods be cooked for me.  My general rule is that I bring something that I love that I can share with others.  It works well, keeps me satisfied, and avoids hurting feelings.  Because of my rule, I did well over the holidays.  However, I was left with a craving for something chocolaty.  You know how that is... So, I started poking around my kitchen and found a pie crust in my fridge leftover from holiday baking and some carob powder in my pantry.  I decided to combine/tweak some recipes from some of my old cookbooks and came up with an amazing carob pie. 

I have to be honest, the word carob never gets me excited.  I usually make a face, my tongue waters in a bad way, and I choose to bake something else to try and satisfy whatever sugary craving I have that day. Tonight, the giant and relatively expensive can of carob was making me feel guilty, and I thought I would give carob yet another try.  I prepared the pie and put it in the oven and then started making some quick vanilla ice cream, because I had a feeling that the I would need to offset the usual bitterness of the carob with some tasty ice cream.  However, to my pleasant surprise, this pie is delicious!  Completely convincing for chocolate, and it definitely didn't need the ice cream.  I'm happy to have found such a suitable chocolate substitute! It's a good night in the kitchen, and my chocolate tooth is definitely satisfied!

Warm Carob Pie

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons carob powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, beaten

1 (9-inch) pie shell, unbaked

Directions

Combine and mix sugar, flour, butter, carob, vanilla, and eggs.  Pour into pie shell.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let cool for about 10 minutes.  Slice and serve (with completely optional vanilla ice cream)