For those of you who haven’t had the joy of trying a traditional southern style Chess Pie, sheesh.. I am so sorry! But fret no more, I have a Chocolate Chess Pie for you that is easy to make and will probably become your favorite kind of chocolate pie ever! I give you, Chocolate Chess Pie.
Honestly I can’t tell you when the first time I tried a chess pie was, they’ve been around forever. The traditional chess was born from simple ingredients and was nothing fancy at all. Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour or corn meal come together to make this delicious classic custard pie.
Chess Pies are a custard style pie that bake up with a deliciously moist custard center and a crusty, crackly top! The top hardens up during the cool time and reminds me of the perfect crackly top of a brownie, just thicker. {I always just pick up my piece of pie and eat it like a brownie anyway!}
The Chocolate addition is just a way to take the classic Chess Pie to the next decadent level!
For this recipe, I used Brown Sugar to get a deeper flavor of sweetness and Dutch Process Cocoa Powder for a deep chocolate flavor. Dutch Process is just a bit darker and richer in color and flavor than classic Cocoa Powder, if you don’t have it on hand classic will do just fine.
I also mentioned earlier that the pie is made with either flour or corn meal. The “or” is in reference to recipes from my research and the division of how people have made the pie in the past.
Both of these ingredients are a thickening agent for the custard pie. Some say the classic has to have the corn meal to be the true classic version, because of the texture it provides for the pie. Flour will give the custard a smoother finish while the corn meal provides a lovely rougher texture throughout. I prefer the texture of the corn meal in my Chess Pie so you’ll see that in the recipe below.
[Disclaimer – the Flour and Corn meal are NOT interchangeable in my recipe. I did not test it with flour at all cause, I know what I like!]
I made this pie on my All Butter Pie Crust and it did not disappoint.
I also whipped up 1 cup of very cold Heavy Cream with 3 tbsp powdered sugar a splash of vanilla for some fresh cream to serve with the pie. It was a perfect milky topper for the richness of this chocolatey pie!
I hope you love it!!
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Chocolate Chess Pie
Ingredients
- 1 Par-Baked Pie crust linked in the post for you
Pie Filling
- 4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 3 oz Bittersweet Chocolate I used 60% Cocoa
- 1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar packed
- 1/2 cup Grannular Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp Corn Meal
- 2 Tbsp Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
- 3 lg Eggs room temp
- 1/2 tsp Pink or Sea Salt
- 1/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream room temp
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Start by parbaking a pie crust and letting it cool for the custard to be poured into.
- Set oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a medium microwave safe bowl, melt butter and chocolate in 30 sec. intervals until smooth, about 90 sec total. Set aside to cool a little.
- In a large bowl, add your Brown Sugar, Granular Sugar, Cornstarch, Corn Meal and Cocoa Powder. Whisk together.
- One at a time, add your eggs whisking to combine fully after each addition. Scrape sides of bowl and whisk one more time.
- Add your melted chocolate and butter mix to your egg mixture and combine with whisk. Add the remaining ingreditens and Whisk one last time.
- Pour filling into cooled par-baked pie crust and bake for 45-50 minutes. The top will look completely set with no jiggle in the middle.
- Let cool on the counter completely and enjoy!
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Excellent directions , so easy to follow .
Thank you, Glad it translates like I hoped!!