Chocolate Chess Pie

Today, I made one of the best desserts ever...Chocolate Chess Pie!

This recipe is courtesy of Angus Barn in Raleigh, NC. Thad Eure Jr. and Charles M. Winston opened the Angus Barn in 1960 when this part of Raleigh was a pastoral, country setting. Today, the Angus Barn is in the midst of the action between the RDU Airport, Raleigh and Durham. It is consistently ranked as one of the top 100 restaurants in the U.S. When you pay your bill, this recipe is given to you on a beautifully decorated card. It is a most requested recipe from their restaurant. It is incredibly delicious with the richness only chocolate can bring and let me tell you, your chocolate craving will be gone with the indulgence of this pie! The time is not including making your own pie crust, if that is what you use.

SERVES 8

Change to: Servings US Metric

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

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Ingredients

• 1 unbaked pie shell
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 (1 ounce) Bakers semi-sweet chocolate baking squares
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 dash salt

Super Easy Directions

1. Melt butter and chocolate.
2. Mix with other ingredients which have been blended together.
3. Pour into pie crust.
4. Bake 35 minutes, at 350 degrees.
5. Top with whipped cream or ice cream.
   

Chess pies are a Southern specialty that has a simple filling of eggs, sugar, butter, and a small amount of flour. Some recipes include cornmeal and others are made with vinegar. Flavorings, such as vanilla, lemon juice, or chocolate are also added to vary the basic recipe.

The origin of the name, Chess Pie, is uncertain, but there are plenty of guesses

and a bit of folklore surrounding the name. The most probable explanation is

that since the English lemon curd pie filling is very close to lemon chess pie, and they believe the word

“chess”

is an Americanization of the English word “cheese,” referring to curd pie. Basically the Chess Pie is a cheese-less cheesecake.

Some folklore:

• One explanation suggests that the word is “chest,” pronounced with a drawl and used to describe these pies baked with so much sugar they could be stored in a pie chest rather than refrigerated.

• Another story is about the plantation cook who was asked what she was baking that smelled so great - “Jes’ pie” was her answer.