The next time you get a hankering for Louisville, Kentucky Bluegrass style chocolate nut pie, don't rush out to the bakery shop or the race track.

Using all the best ingredients, you can whip up an improved version of this Kentucky Derby Day treat right in your home kitchen. So don your derby cap, rev up that mixer, and place your bet on the best pie to ever grace the winner's circle!

I recently found this recipe scribbled on a vintage manilla card, in an old recipe box straight from Louisville, Kentucky. It sat alongside a second version of the same recipe which I will also include here.

Ms. Wakefield's recipe box contained an extensive collection of hand-written treasures from Louisville, Kentucky spanning several decades beginning in the early '40's. Ms. Wakefield also had a recipe or two published in American Home Magazine.

Enjoy!

Version I:

2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 to 4 tablespoons bourbon
1/4 cup corn starch
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate bits

Combine the eggs, sugar, melted butter and bourbon. Add the cornstarch to the mixture, blending in slowly.

Stir in the pecans and chocolate bits. Pour into an unbaked 9 inch pie shell.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree F. oven for approximately 45 minutes.

Version II:

1 1/2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons flour
6 eggs, beaten by hand
1 1/2 cups butter, melted
1/3 cup Bourbon Whiskey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, stir in
1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped

Combine ingredients and pour into two unbaked pie shells.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

Makes two pies.