Mississippi Lemon Chess Pie

One of my best girlfriends, Jennifer, recently inherited a priceless collection of recipes from a beloved aunt. My little southern heart beat fast at the prospect of finding original recipes like my grandmother and great-grandmother used to make. With her permission, I took pictures of several and am eager to put them all to the test.
My first try was this wonderfully rich pie. Chess Pie is at the heart of any true southerner, and this recipe artfully balances the sweet with the fresh lemon flavor. I'm not typically a huge lemon dessert fan, but this has won me over and I've made it twice already.

See the recipe in the picture below and read my previous posts to find crust recipes and tips.

Pecan Pie

What are the holidays without a Pecan Pie?

My favorite Thanksgiving memories are when my family in Tennessee would gather at my Aunt Meg's house. We would pack in cousins, in-laws, grandparents, uncles, and close family friends. One year we had three dogs and a cat! Now that was a lively day. In order to feed all 20-30 of us, the women folk would work for hours the days before to prepare a feast. Aunt Meg's kitchen island would be covered with a wide variety of pies, cakes, and cookies to tempt and delight. The list usually included molasses cookies, buttermilk pie, mincemeat pie, and pecan pie. Even though I didn't get to spend the day with everyone this year, my brother and I carried on the traditions here in Colorado with his family.

This year, rather than using the usual recipe on the Karo Syrup bottle, I decided to try something a little more complex. It took more time, but the results were amazing!

1 Pie crust, deep dish. (I have a simple recipe for one on the apple pie blog. If you must use store-bought, I recommend Marie Callender's.)

6 Tbl butter, cut into 1 in pieces
1 cup packed, dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 Tbl vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted

Heat the oven to 375.
Toast pecans for 8 minutes, or until you can start to smell them.
Place pie weights in the crust, either using dry beans in aluminum foil, using it to also cover and protect the edges (this is to prevent bubbling). Bake the empty crust for 25 min. Carefully remove the foil and beans, return crust to oven for 5 min until bottom of crust is dry.
Decrease oven to 275.
Filling: place a medium glass bowl in a skillet of water. Bring water to boil, reduce to simmer. Add butter. Once melted, add brown sugar and salt, mix well. Add the eggs, corn syrup and vanilla. Beat together, then stir regularly until the filling is hot and reads 130 degrees. Remove from heat and add pecans.
Pour into prepared shell, cover with crust shield, bake for 40 minutes. Remove shield, bake another 15-20 min, or until the pie doesn't jiggle, but gives when pressed in the center.

Chocolate Chess Pie

I have the great honor and privilege of living close to my brother and his three amazing children. Time to time, when I babysit them, I let them help me cook and try to pass on my knowledge to their young, eager faces. This was a perfect opportunity to bake a pie: their father's birthday.

Now in the south, a Chess pie is a tradition. It's one of the first recipes I learned, passed down from my grandmother along with this story. The old saying goes, that a yankee was enjoying a delicious pie baked for him by a southern cook when he asked what kind of pie it was. The cook, in a heavy accent, said, "It's jes' pie." Thus, the name, "Chess Pie." What's better than a pie full of sugar and butter? A pie full of sugar, butter and chocolate. So here's the variation on the old favorite.

Ingredients
3 cups sugar
7 tbl cocoa powder
3 tbl flour
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 regular pie shells or 1 deep dish.

Directions
Heat oven to 350, place pie shells on a cookie sheet. prepare a crust shield (directions in Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake).
In a small saucepan, heat butter on low just until melted, remove from heat and add cocoa until melted.
In a bowl, mix sugar with flour, then add remaining ingredients. Add butter/cocoa mixture. Pour into crusts.
Bake for 30-40 min, until a crust has formed on top of the pie. (it will be cracked and not sticky to the touch)
Remove crust shield during the last 15 min of baking.
Cool completely before slicing. We call this "Settin' up."  (trust me, resist temptation or it will be pure liquid inside!)

Funny side note: After baking this and putting the sweet darlings to bed, I couldn't resist tasting my creation. So, I confess I nibbled a bit :) It made Twitter with a picture of the creator/culprit.