FamilyFun Holiday Challenge: Day 14 Chocolate Chess Pie

I am a huge fan of the Chocolate Chess Pie Recipe featured in the November 2009 issue of FamilyFun. Apparently this is a popular pie in the South, but being a West Coast gal I had never even heard of it before.  Boy, was I missing out!  This a definitely a true chocolate lover's pie, full of rich, gooey, decadent chocolate deliciousness with a hint of cinnamon. I think I have found a new favorite...

Chocolate Chess Pie by Ken Haedrich

9-inch deep-dish pie crust

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 TBS fine yellow cornmeal

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (optional)

1. Prebake pie crusts (I followed the directions on the Marie Calendar's Deep Dish pie crusts I used).

2. The original recipe has you use a double boiler but I just put the butter and chocolate in a microwaveable dish and cooked it on high for 1 minute increments until the chocolate and butter melted (Be careful not too overcook or you'll burn the chocolate). Whisk the chocolate mixture until it is smooth, then remove it from heat and set it aside for 10 minutes to cool.

3. In a large bowl, use your hands to combine the sugar, cornmeal, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, lightly beat together the eggs and yolk. Add them to the sugar mixture, along with the milk and vanilla extract, and whisk together until they're evenly blended. Then whisk in the chocolate mixture until smooth and pour the filling into the pie crust.

4. Place the pie on the center oven rack and bake it for 35 minutes at 325 F. Rotate pie 180 degrees, then continue to bake until it puffs up and forms a thin crusty layer, about 20 minutes more. Transfer the pie to a wire rack to cool for at least 1 1/2 hours. Serve it slightly warm or at room temperature (it's even good straight from the refrigerator), with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Robo Dude loves cream pies and his favorite is chocolate cream pie.  At first he wasn't too sure if he'd like this pie because it is definitely not a cream pie, but he LOVED it! In fact everyone who tried it loved it. It sort of reminds me of a chewy brownie wrapped up in a pie shell.  It was heavenly, definitely a 5 finger recipe worthy of any holiday gathering! Have you tried it?

Linking up to: