I decided to keep things simple today and just share my chocolate meringue pie recipe.  This one is a true family recipe.  It comes straight from my aunt Ruth’s cookbook which is filled with her handwritten recipes.

Chocolate meringue pie is my husband’s favorite but I don’t make it very often.  I really should make more of an effort to make his favorite dessert–maybe not every week because it is too rich a dessert for that but maybe sometime when it is not a special occasion.  I usually only make this pie for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and sometimes on Valentine’s Day.  I did make the one in these photos for our anniversary in August.  If you master this recipe, you’ll not need another one–just toss those pudding boxes right now.  It does take a bit of finesse to make this pie as the recipe is not exactly written Betty Crocker style but I’ll try to share my secrets as we go.

Chocolate Meringue Pie

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 heaping tablespoons flour

1/3 teaspoon salt

3 egg yolks, beaten (reserve egg whites for meringue)

2 squares unsweetened chocolate

1 1/2 cups boiling water

(You’ll also need a cooked pie shell.  I buy my pie crusts frozen and usually get a deep dish one for most my pies.)

Add sugar, flour, and salt to a saucepan and whisk it together a bit.

Add boiling water to this mixture and stir until smooth.  I use the whisk for this step but a spoon also works.  Then, over medium to high heat, add the egg yolks and chocolate.

The mixture should look like this:

Get comfortable and just keep stirring.  Stir until thick.  That is the official direction in the recipe.  I like to imagine my aunt there guiding me on what that actually means.

It will come to a nice, rolling boil before it is ready to go into the pie shell.  I also give it what I call the “spoon test” and if it is running off the spoon, it is not ready yet.  When it drops off the spoon, it is ready to go into the pie shell.

Cover the pie with meringue.  I use this recipe that is handwritten under the pie recipe:   use egg whites for meringue.  Beat until stiff add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar and 6 tablespoons sugar gradually.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. 

The finished pie will not last very long!

Note:  you’ll know when you cut into this pie after it cools a bit if you stirred the filling long enough during the cooking part.   If not, it will be a bit runny but still taste good.  Sometimes you’ll get little white bits in the mixture during cooking which can sometimes be avoided by tempering the eggs (add a bit of the hot sugar/water mix to the egg/chocolate mix before you add it to the pan) or perhaps doing a better job of separating the eggs and making sure you are using yolks only.  Of course, if that happens, it is fairly easy to pick the white bits out with a spoon as you are cooking.  Or if you miss them until the end, do not worry as they will not make a difference in the taste of your pie.

What is your favorite kind of pie?

*This post is part of the 31 Days of Putting My Family First Series.