This delicious chocolate chess pie combines melted chocolate with the ingredients for a classic Southern chess pie consisting mainly of eggs, butter, and sugar.
Easy-to-Make Chocolate Chess Pie
This decadent chocolate chess pie tastes like it would be difficult and time-consuming to make. However, it is simple to make and will please chocolate lovers! It is a pie you might expect to find at a restaurant with a fancy dessert menu. In fact, it is on the menu at a restaurant called Angus Barn in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is so popular that the restaurant makes hundreds a week, selling them at its restaurant and store.
What is a Chocolate Chess Pie?
Chess Pie is traditionally made in a flour crust. It is similar to pecan pie without nuts. The filling has butter, sugar, eggs, and sometimes flour or cornmeal. It can be flavored with citrus flavors like lemon, lime, or orange for a tangy pie or chocolate, coconut, maple, pumpkin, or caramel for a decadent treat. But when you get right down to it, you can flavor it however you choose. Once I made a list of flavored chess pies and came up with 20 variations!
How Did it Get its Name?
I don’t think anyone knows how this pie got its name. That being said, many Southern U.S. regions have stories about how Chess Pie got named. All the stories are within the realm of possibility, and who’s to argue with chess pie legends?
Chocolate Chess Pie Tips
Cool the Chocolate
To ensure pie-making success, let the melted chocolate and butter cool a little before adding them to the sugar and eggs, or you might end up with little cooked egg pieces in your pie. When you add the chocolate mixture, have the mixer on and let it beat the chocolate into the eggs and sugar. If you use a hand mixer, add a little chocolate to the egg mixture and mix it; then repeat until all the chocolate is added.
Cover the Crust While Baking the Pie
It is easy to over-brown the pie crust, so I suggest using a pie ring or making your own out of aluminum foil.
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy
If you like this recipe, here are some others you might like. Click on each name to link to them.
Chocolate Chess Pie
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
- 3 ounces Baker’s semisweet chocolate
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- dash of salt
- 1 pie crust (refrigerated) (or your favorite homemade crust)
- whipped topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Start melting the butter and chocolate in a heavy saucepan on low heat. Then turn off the heat before all the chocolate melts while you work on the next step. This helps keep the mixture from being too hot when you add it to the eggs later.
- Place the eggs in a mixing bowl and add the sugar a little at a time, beating between additions. Then add vanilla and salt and beat until combined.
- Go back to the melting chocolate in the pan and stir until smooth.
- Turn on the mixer. Then slowly add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat until well combined. Take care not to overbeat the eggs.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and add a baking shield or aluminum foil ring to the outer crust to prevent over-browning.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until set. The filling will rise while baking.
- Cool before cutting.
- Top with whipped topping if desired.
Notes
Hiding Cracks
If cracks form when the pie cooks, hide them with whipped topping or cream.- A whipped topping like Cool Whip will hold its shape and not melt.
- A canned (or freshly made) whipped cream such as Reddi wip will liquefy over time; therefore, add it to the pie when you plan to serve it.