Chocolate Chess Pie

Before we moved to NC, I'd never heard of Chocolate Chess Pie. My family and I ate lunch at Golden Corral one day shortly after moving here. That is where we discovered this delicious chocolate pie. It quickly became of favorite of ours.

I've tried several recipes for this pie - some coming close to what we were happy with but none of them ever hit it right on the head...until now. I cannot take credit for finding this recipe. A few months ago I posted a request for recipes for this pie on "The Idea Box". This website is run by my friend, Amanda, from Amanda's Cookin'. Amanda was looking for new dessert ideas and asked if I had found the recipe that I'd been looking for. She found the recipe that I am blogging about today and posted it for me. In fact, she posted two links. I opted to try the recipe that had a picture to go along with it.

I had everything on hand to make it so I printed out the recipe and headed into the kitchen. I used a refrigerated pie crust (I can hear some of you gasping right now!) to make things easier. The pie filling was very quick and easy to mix up.

I didn't make any changes to the original recipe. The recipe calls for a 9" pie pan. Before Christmas, I won a 10" pie pan that I wanted to try out. I stretched the premade crust to fit the pan anyway thinking that if it shrunk, I would use the extra room at the top of the pan to hold the homemade whipped cream.(Oh yeah, an extra treat!)  I pre-baked the crust at 400* for 7 minutes - until is was just barely turning a light shade of brown. Remove the crust from the oven and allow it to cool while you are making the filling.

Make sure to turn the oven down to 325* for the pie.

Chocolate Chess Pie

1 1/2 cups sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup evaporated milk
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 partially 9-inch baked pie crust

Preheat oven to 325*F degrees.
Combine sugar, cocoa, flour, and salt.
Blend in milk.
Beat in eggs 1 at a time.
Add butter and vanilla, beat until smooth.
Pour into pre-baked pie shell.
Bake in 325* oven for 55-60 minutes - since I used a bigger pie pan, my pie wasn't quite as deep and it only baked for 45 minutes. 

Cool the pie completely before topping with whipped cream.

Homemade Whipped Cream

2 C. heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

I dumped all of the above ingredients into my Kitchen Aid mixer and used the whisk to beat it. You can also use a hand mixer to mix it. I usually chill the bowl and beaters really well if I'm using a hand mixer. It helps to speed things up a bit.

To Cover Pie

Spread the whipped cream across the top of the pie. Add remaining whipped cream to a plastic bag or icing bag and pipe "rosettes" around the outside ring of the pie.

Drizzle the top with chocolate syrup.

The pie can be eaten immediately or it can be refrigerated. I like it best when it is cold.

It's been so cold here the last few days with temps down in the low 20s. I covered our pie with the pie plate lid and sat it outside on our grill. Within 20 minutes it was very cold (and delicious!)

I will definitely make this again. In fact, my son is already begging me to make it again. He loves it!

Don't ya just want to stick your finger into the whipped cream and lick it off?