It’s almost Halloween, which means the candy holiday season is beginning and chocolate cravings are waking. Instead of mainlining Three Musketeers bars this year, why not get your choclate fix from a dense, dark, and deeply delicious piece of chocolate chess pie?
If you’re not from the south, you may not have heard of “chess” pies, which are single-crust pies with translucent fillings. (Think of a pecan pie without the pecans and you’ll have an idea of the consistency of a chess pie.) They’re rather plain-looking pies but the fillings are so rich and satisfying that just a small wedge will satiate even the most ravenous sweet tooth.
Leftover chess pie is also quite good served cold for breakfast.
Chocolate Chess Pie
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 heaping tbsp. flour
1 ½ blocks of unsweetened baking chocolate
Pinch salt
½ cup milk (skim is fine)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ stick butter
1 unbaked 10-inch pie shell.
Mix the sugar, flour and salt.
Melt butter and chocolate.
Add the eggs and milk to the dry ingredients.
Add the chocolate/butter mixture and mix well.
Add the vanilla extract.
Note: If you like, you can substitute 2 heaping tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder for the melted chocolate. If you do that, simply mix the cocoa powder in with the other dry ingredients.
Pour into the unbaked pie shell.
Bake at 375 for 40 to 45 minutes.
The filling may crack a little in the middle, that’s normal and will just tell people it’s home-made.
Chess pies come in buttermilk and lemon as well as chocolate but it goes without saying that the chocolate version is the best!
