I made my first chess pie a couple weeks ago. For my initial musings on this wonderful new genre, scroll down…keep going…there’s the post. It’s called “Chess Pie?”
To answer my own question: Awww yeah.
I flipped back to the beginning of the chapter of Pie entitled “Rich, Sweet, and Simple: Chess, Buttermilk, and Other Custard Pies.” Let’s start at the very beginning…a very good place to start. Classic Chess Pie.
As I mentioned when I was writing about the Angus Barn Chocolate Chess Pie, one feature of chess pies is that they contain eggs. This one contained four. I’ve been particularly excited about cooking/baking with eggs lately as we’ve started buying our eggs from a local lady who has a bunch of chickens (or, “spoiled girls,” as she refers to them) running around her yard. Fresh from the coop, free-range eggs for $3 a dozen….you can’t beat that. Plus they’re pretty. Like a rainbow.
(Check out the size of the white one in the middle….daaaaang.)
So four of these beauties went into my pie, as well as a large lemon (zest and juice) from a church friend’s lemon tree. Love that.
This French dame is getting crushed by the final product! I think the best way to describe the flavor of this one is that it’s kind of like a lemon bar…but the good kind. Not overwhelmingly sweet and nothing fake about it.
And now for the Relating Musings:
1. I do this to Levi (poor Levi) every time. “Leviiiiii…Ken says that this pie is supposed to be VERY dark brown. Would you say that this is VERY dark brown or just DARK brown?” (Like he actually has a better idea than I do…psh.)
But seriously, what do you think? I wouldn’t have said this was VERY dark brown…in fact I think I may have baked it slightly too long because of that description. The texture was still nice…gooey and stuff…but I am unsure that this was the way the pie was supposed to look at the end of the day. Those of you who are experienced in the ways of chess pie (aka Southerners), please chime in.
2. Prebaking crusts. Now. I understand the merit of prebaking, but here’s the thing. When I partially prebake a crust, I feel like seven times out of ten the end result is a crust that’s just a little bit annoyingly too hard. It doesn’t affect the taste of the pie so much, and isn’t as annoying as a soggy crust would be, but it’s definitely off-putting when you go to cut a piece of crust with a fork and it just doesn’t happen. And then you have to pick up the whole end part of your slice of pie and shove it into your mouth like a caveman. In front of your company. I exaggerate slightly but still. I need to find a balance here…perhaps by cutting down the time I allow the crust to partially prebake? I’ll get back to ya’ll on this.
(After you’ve baked one or two chess pies, you start to develop a Southern accent. Word.)
I agree that this final picture may have been taking things a little too far….but let’s roll with it, shall we?
The chess pieces hungrily eye the remainder of the chess pie. (Except for the knight, who’s oblivious. He’s only a horse, after all.)
The Peace of Pie 
Jess, Your pictures are really amazing! The eggs alone are worthy of a frame. Stunning!
Mmm, eggs! They taste amazing when the chickens are let out to eat bugs and grass. Those are super pretty too!
Perhaps when you pre-bake you could wrap the edges with foil so that it’s mostly the bottom that bakes. That seems to be the point-once you add the filling for a pie it’s much harder to get the bottom to cook all the way. Then while you cook the pie in its final stages the crust edges will crisp up without overcooking. Just an idea! We have green and brown layers and the pretty eggs are fun to collect. 🙂
Thanks for the idea Liz! I actually have these fancy crust protectors…I think they’re meant mostly to keep the crust from browning though. The annoying thing is that it’s really the bottom pie crust that gets hard, making it difficult to cut through bites of the pie. I mean, I use the term “difficult” loosely…it’s not THAT hard, but not as perfectly flaky and falling apart as I’d like. Hmmmmm.
The eggs are super cool! But how about some history of the chess pie – like, why is it called ‘chess’? It’s just confusing. Inquiring minds want to know.
Also that pie was great. I could have gone with even more lemon flavor.
Duuuh, I just found your post on the history of chess pie. NVM. You’re probably going to get all excited that this post has 6 comments and then be sad when you realize they’re all from me. Sorry.