CHOCOLATE CHESS PIE

I love almost anything chocolate! One thing chocolate I really, really like is the Chocolate Chess Pie that Golden Corral serves. I like when they have it in the little tarts. It is so sweet; so the little tart is more than enough sugar for me. Lately they have been having a whole pie instead. That means I enjoy more sugar than I really wanted to eat.

I have been looking for what seems like forever trying to find a recipe for it. I found one on Pinterest but I could tell from the picture it wasn't going to taste like I wanted it to; the texture was not right. I have looked in cookbooks at estate sales in the index and put them back because they didn't contain a recipe for chocolate chess pie. 

It is kinda easy to find a recipe for lemon chess pie, (and I may try it) but I wanted to find one that was chocolate. Imagine my delight when a week or so ago I picked up a cookbook at Hillcrest Thrift Shop called, "The Pies and Pastries Cookbook" - Favorite Recipes of Home Economics Teachers and inside it was a recipe for Chocolate Chess Pie. On the same page were recipes for Old-Fashioned Chess Pie and Lemon Chess Pie, but the one I wanted was the Chocolate Chess Pie. (The teacher who shared it was Joanne Varner from Cheyenne, Wyoming.)

I generally followed the recipe except I used butter for the margarine and I removed 6 teaspoons of sugar from the 1 cup of sugar. (I have been experimenting with this after reading an article from King Arthur Flour about reducing sugar in recipes. They recommend starting with reducing each cup of sugar by 6 teaspoonfuls in recipes. If that tastes okay, then they recommend reducing it by 12 teaspoonfuls/cup the next time. ) Well, it was plenty sweet enough (for me) with the 6 teaspoonful less, but you should do as you wish.

I made my own pie crust (and trust me it was awesome). Friend Janice said she loved the pie, but she couldn't get over how delicious and flaky the pie crust was. I had planned to share the recipe for it on this post, but as I am writing this, I have decided I need to write a whole post on pie crusts. I learned a lot from this cookbook about crusts. So if you want to make this pie right now, use your favorite pie crust recipe, OR you can wait until tomorrow and make it after you read that post. (It will be worth the wait.)

CHOCOLATE CHESS PIE

1       cup sugar (less 6 teaspoonfuls)
3      tablespoons cornmeal
3      tablespoons cocoa
3      eggs, well beaten
1/2   cup (1 stick) butter
1/2   cup light corn syrup
1       teaspoon vanilla extract
1       unbaked 9 - in pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In one bowl, mix the sugar, cornmeal, and cocoa with a whisk to thoroughly mix.

(The cup of sugar with 6 teaspoonfuls removed.)

In another bowl, beat the eggs thoroughly and

then add the corn syrup, butter, and vanilla.

Stir it with a whisk to completely blend it.

Pour the egg mixture into the sugar mixture;

mix

until smooth with the whisk.

Pour into pie shell.

Bake for 45 minutes or until set.

(I had to bake mine for 55 minutes until the center was set. I had a little hole that formed and was bubbling at 45 minutes. So I continued to bake the pie until it had stopped bubbling and the center didn't giggle.

It made the pie not look as pretty when it was done, but....it didn't ruin the taste.)





Cool completely on wire rack. (I like my Chocolate Chess Pie cold, so I covered it and put it in the refrigerator until I was ready to serve it.)

Can serve plain or

with a little whipped topping.