Easy as Pie

Chocolate and lemon chess pies were always part of my mother's baking repertoire when I was growing up in Virginia. I jumped on chocolate chess pie bandwagon when I left home and realized that this is about the easiest dessert you can bake. There have been a few missteps (I don't recommend doubling the recipe unless you are planning to feed an army) but overall it is a foolproof choice. It wasn't until I moved to New York that I realized chess pies are mostly found in the south. There are various theories about the origin of the name "chess", which you can read about here. You can also google chocolate chess pie and find dozens of recipes that are just slightly different from the next. Below is the recipe that I receive from my mom and here is a picture of a slice that looks like the results we get. However, the recipe listed with the picture is (of course) different. Regardless of what recipe you use, the chocolate chess pie is very sweet and very chocolate-y, so have a lot of cold milk on hand to wash it down!

1/2 cup butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (Hershey's, Baker, or Nestle)
1 tbsp flour
1-7/8 cups sugar (add a little less if you like)
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
6 ounces evaporated milk (Carnation comes in a 5 ounce can, so you can add 1 ounce regular milk to this)
1 baked pastry shell, cooled

Preheat oven to 375. Melt butter and chocolate in saucepan over low heat. Beat eggs in small bowl. Mix sugar and flour together. Once the chocolate and butter have melted, add the sugar/flour mixture, eggs, vanilla and evaporated milk. Stir for about 5-6 minutes over medium low heat. The mixture should be smooth like a sauce and slightly thick. Pour into the pastry shell and bake for about 25 minutes. Cool on a rack for another 1-2 hours. Cover and refrigerate.