There's a dessert I grew know where I grew up called chess pie, which seems to be a universally loved dessert almost everywhere except where I grew up. It's not until I speak to someone from the South (or at least the Midwest) and they just look at me puzzled.
"Chess pie?" they ask.
"What's that?"
If you look past the southern region, the popularity of the classic southern pie's pretty limited actually; you'll see some chess pie pop up here and there at bakeries and dessert menus. I prefer chocolate chess pie to my sister. The buttery crust is complemented nicely by the little cocoa powder added into the rich, sweet dessert.
If you're just starting out with chocolate chess pie, wow your friends with a great dessert that's also one of the easiest pies to make (we ain't telling). If you already know this tried and true recipe I hope that it will become a regular for you.
What Is Chess Pie?
Chess pie is a traditional Southern pie made of a short list of staple ingredients: eggs, sugar, and butter. Sometimes there's vanilla, cornmeal, milk, little flour, lemon, and other things you can throw in to deepen the flavor and create a thin, crispy top as well. Gentle cooking in the pie crust in the oven, it's a cooked custard pie.
Chess Pie
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Is the pie an offspring of "chest pie" — pie chest or cheese pie? Or more my favorite where is it from the Southern pronunciation of "just pie?" No one's quite sure. It's a Southern favorite, but what is certain.
A Family Recipe
I have made countless chess pies with numerous flavor profiles (lemon, buttermilk, and brown sugar, among others) but this would be the first chess pie recipe I developed myself. I started at the best possible place: the family cookbook.
My family's original chocolate chess pie recipe (somewhere around 50 years old, probably more) is a great recipe, if you have one, without bells and whistles and with no remorse. The result works, and it tastes good, but I couldn't help tinkering a bit by adding salt, espresso powder, upping the cocoa powder and par baking the crust. I am almost sure I would gain my relatives' approval.
Blind Baking the Crust: Case
Created with copper tools and machinery, these cookies are baked blind on the bottom without any components on the bottoms.
I know, I know. It does make par baking pie crust an extra step and therefore annoying! But hear me out.
Most standard chess pie and chocolate chess pie baking recipes want you to bake the filling in an unbaked pie crust. If you're feeling lazy, you can do this, but heed this warning: Having a barely cooked, slightly soggy bottom crust is what you'll wind up with. That's just the facts!
For a tender, flaky, crispy, buttery crust that is a wonderful balance for the rich, smooth filling, simply blind bake for a few minutes. Homemade or store bought crust, this is true for both. I will never skip blind baking the crust of my chess pies, it's such a big difference.
Pie Crust Problem Solving Tips
- Make sure there aren't any holes or tears in your crust. It's liquid, so if there's an opening it will leak out and under the crust.
- Once baked, blind, then check the crust quickly. If you see any small holes or cracks that were open, brush a little of beaten egg white over them and pop in the oven for about 2 to 3 minutes, to seal any holes that open.
- Put the pie in the bottom third of the oven and bake. This will further crisp up the bottom crust and will stop the edges of the crust from browning too much.
