Two Weeks Ago - Chocolate Pecan Pie

I have always been a huge fan of Southern cooking.  The rich, dense, homestyle dishes just have a comforting nature about them.  From barbeque to mac and cheese, I have always thought that the nation's best food comes from below the Mason Dixon.  And having tried (and LOVED) one classic Southern dessert - sweet potato pie - I was very curious to make another decadant staple of the South: pecan pie.  But when I was researching recipes, I came across a chocolate variation that I just couldn't resist...

 

Crust -

• 1c flour
• .5c shortening
• .25c water

 

Filling -

• 1.5c chopped toasted pecans
• 3 eggs
• 1c light corn syrup
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• .25tsp salt
• 1c white sugar
• 2tbsp melted butter
• .33c melted dark chocolate chips

 

Baked for 1 hr at 350

 

 

RESULTS -
I got this recipe online. Meh.  Probably won't make this particular variation any time soon.  Turned out WAY too sweet for even my taste.  It was more like a chocolate sugar pie with a slight pecan aftertaste.  My family (who happened to be on campus for parent's weekend) was nice enough to say they liked it; whether they were telling the truth or not remains unknown...  The crust was also pretty tasteless, though I later did some research and found out that using ONLY shortening tends to produce tasteless crusts, even though they are easy to make.
Oddly enough, the next weekend when I was down in South Carolina for our cross country conference championships I had some PROPER Southern chocolate pecan pie at the banquet the night before the race. Now that was some good stuff!
So after taking into consideration what I liked from the pie at the banquet, here is my edited recipe (any suggestions are welcome):

Crust - 

• 8tbsp cold cubed butter
• 1.33c flour
• .25c cold water
• 2tbsp graham sugar or .25c finely crushed graham crackers

Filling - 

• 1.5c chopped toasted pecans
• 4 eggs
• .66c light corn syrup
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• .25tsp salt
• .5c brown sugar
• 2tbsp melted butter
• .33c melted dark chocolate chips
• .5tsp nutmeg
• .5tsp cinnamon