When searching for recipes, we can't forget about the good old southern style chess pie. Chess pie is an oldie but a goodie. The not too sweet custard style filling is a comfort food you will never forget. Found in lemon, chocolate and vanilla, this old school recipe is a favorite in many families.
Chess pie is made of eggs, sugar, butter and a pinch of flour. Cornmeal and vinegar recipes are also found, however flavorings of vanilla, lemon juice and chocolate are the most commonly found recipes of today.
The folklore behind this wonderful comforting pie is that the word originally used was “chest”. Add a southern drawl and the description of pies baked with such an amount of sugar could be stored in a pie chest rather than a refrigerator.
The name “chess pie” has an unknown beginning, although the English lemon curd pie filling is close in ingredients and consistency to the lemon chess pie. Some believe the word “chess” came from the English word “cheese” which referred to curd pies.
If you haven't tried chess pie, give your family something new.
Things you will need to make chess pie:
½ cup butter
2 cups white sugar
1-teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
1-tablespoon cornmeal
¼ cup evaporated milk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 pie shell (9 inch)
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together. Mix in the eggs, beat well. Stir in cornmeal, evaporated milk and the vinegar. Beat until smooth.
Pour into unbaked pie shell. Sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake for 40 minutes.
Remove pie from oven. Allow cooling so pie filling sets up. Cut and top servings with whipped cream if desired.
For chocolate chess pie, reduce eggs to two instead of four. Replace 2 cups of sugar with 1 ½ cups sugar. Add 3 ½ tablespoons of cocoa powder in the mixture. Top with ¾ cup chopped pecans.
For lemon chess pie, use 4 eggs, 1-½ cups of white sugar, 2 tablespoons white cornmeal, ¼ cup melted butter, ½ cup milk, juice from 2 juiced lemons. Mix together and pour into pie shell. Garnish with lemon zest or lemon peels and chopped walnuts.
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