A wonderful bit of chocolatey deliciousness in a buttery pie crust
Over the 20-plus years we’ve been making it, Chocolate Chess Pie has quietly become a big favorite here at the Bakehouse. As the New York Times wrote a few years back, chocolate chess pie is “the perfect move for a gathering where some people want pie, some want chocolate and everyone wants something sweet.” Closer to home, it’s one of longtime Bakeshop manager Jake Emberling’s favorites (out of the hundreds of terrific treats we make regularly)!
The original recipes for chess pie call for lemon—what I imagine as essentially a “lemon curd” pie—and appear in the English author Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy from 1747. The history of chocolate chess pie is far shorter, since chocolate came into popular use in cooking and everyday eating only towards the latter part of the 19th century. Most likely, it would date to the early years of the 20th century. Which means that while Marie Curie was winning Nobel Prizes, some far less famous, and actually anonymous, American bakers began putting a chocolate custard into their pie shells in place of the more typical lemon. And the rest is culinary history! I’m not sure it’s Deep Understanding, but it is definitely delicious!
Our Chocolate Chess Pie is a rich and creamy baked chocolate custard in an all-butter crust. We use a very special local dark chocolate from Mindo Chocolate Makers in Dexter, Michigan that takes this pie over the top. It’s been described by some as “a brownie in a pie shell” and it’s definitely a staff favorite. I like to top it with toasted walnuts or hazelnuts. Great with a big dollop of homemade whipped cream. And/or you could gild the lily by serving a small scoop of chocolate or vanilla gelato on the side. Better still, adopt the Vermont tradition of pie for breakfast and start your day with it! However you eat it, it’s luscious, creamy, sweet, and wonderfully chocolatey!
