Mom's Old Fashioned Chocolate Pie
By Tammy Lovvorn
Christmas time brings wonderful memories of sweets, gifts, and family. Every year my mom bakes my favorite dessert from scratch, an old-fashioned chocolate cream pie with meringue topping. It is my most precious gift.
My mom loves to cook, especially desserts. She collects cookbooks from local churches, hunts for them at yard sales, and occasionally buys a new one. She is always searching for new recipes to try, but nothing compares to her own recipe for chocolate pie. She has adapted her recipe over the 70 years she has been baking.
I often ask her how she makes it and her reply is always the same: “add a little of this and a little of that.” So last Christmas, I planned a day for us to make my chocolate pie together, a special memory and day for both of us.
We started by gathering all the ingredients: sugar, flour, butter, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla, cornstarch, cream of tartar, milk, and eggs. They are simple ingredients, but when combined they make an awesome dessert. We made the crust first with butter, flour, a pinch of salt, and a little sugar.
Next, we measured the ingredients for the chocolate pie filling. This was the most time-consuming part of the pie. You cook the ingredients over medium heat in a double boiler, stirring frequently until it resembles chocolate pudding. My mom taught me to add the ingredients slowly for the best consistency. Once achieved, you slowly pour the pudding into the homemade baked pie crust.
The challenging part of the recipe was figuring out the amounts to add, as my mom just wings it, probably like most moms do. But with time and patience on my part, we got it all down on paper and video. I know now I can make the pie, but as long as I have my mom, that is her job and my most precious Christmas gift.
Step 1 - Making The Pie Crust:
1 cup All purpose Flour
½ stick of Unsalted Butter
Salt
Sugar
Egg wash
The homemade pie crust recipe makes a buttery melt in your mouth flaky tender crust which can be used for any type of pie from coconut cream to sweet potato. First, melt the butter and then add the salt. Once the butter is melted, add flour a little at a time until the mixture is pliable but not sticky. I know this goes against all the thoughts of keeping the butter cold - but this is mom’s (and my grandmother’s) way of making the crust. Once you have the right consistency, press the dough in a 9 inch pie pan, sprinkle sugar over the bottom and apply an egg wash and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or golden brown.
Step 2 - The Meringue:
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
For meringue, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until stiff, glossy and sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
Tips for making meringue
The eggs should be at room temperature to get the most volume possible. Make sure that the bowl and beaters you are using are very clean. Even the smallest amount of fat, oil, or yolk in the bowl can prevent the egg whites from beating correctly. If you happen to get a small amount of yolk into the whites when separating the eggs, you’ll need to throw those out (or save for scrambled eggs) and start over. They’ll almost never whip up into a meringue.
Step 3 - Making the Chocolate Filling:
¾ - 1 cup sugar
1/3 cup of all purpose flour
¼ cup baking Dutch cocoa
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
3 large egg yolks, room temperature, beaten
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until thick and uniform color. Set aside. In a double boiler, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt; gradually add milk whisking constantly until blended. Cook and stir over medium high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir about 1 cup of the hot filling into the egg yolks. Add the egg mixture to the cocoa mixture in the double boiler, Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla and butter. Pour / spoon hot filling into the pie crust. Immediately spread meringue evenly over hot filling, sealing meringue to pie crust. Bake at 375 until the meringue is golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack until set, 1-2 hours. Refrigerate leftovers.
