Old Fashioned Chess Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why does my chess pie crack? ›

When you move a pie out of the oven too fast, you risk cracking the top. One trick of the trade to keep pies from cracking is to place the pie dish on a cookie tray to bake. That way, when you take it out of the oven once it's finished baking, you don't have to worry about moving it too much.

Born of convenience rather than extravagance, the most basic chess pie filling consists of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour in a single pastry crust. Cornmeal usually serves as an additional stabilizing ingredient, while an acid (buttermilk, vinegar, or lemon juice) is frequently added to punch up the flavor a bit.

Cornmeal as a stabilizer in the filling is distinct to chess pie.” Buttermilk is the main factor in differentiating the two pies. Adding an acidic ingredient, like buttermilk or vinegar, to the pie will cut down on the sweetness and change the consistency of the filling.

Unlike a typical custard pie, that wobbly middle will not fully set up when it's cool due to the high sugar content. So bake the pie until it just sets up, and there is no jiggle left in the pie.

Chess and nut pies (ex. Salted Maple, Hot Cocoa Chess, or Brandy Pecan) are best eaten within 3 days of purchase if stored at room temperature. However, they can also be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Chess pie can be stored at room temperature or refrigerated, whichever you prefer. If you love cold pie, this recipe will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator.

However, chess pie is made with cornmeal to thicken the filling, whereas buttermilk pies generally only use all-purpose flour.

And so, supposedly, the name “Chess Pie” was coined. Chess pie and its many Southern variations — including vinegar pie, transparent pie and Tyler pie (a favorite of Edna Lewis's, putatively named for President John Tyler and perfected by the women of Miss Lewis's hometown of Freetown, Va.)

Whether you use flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, or even chestnut flour, chess pie requires something to thicken all the sugar, eggs, and butter that create its rich, custard-like filling and crispy, sweet top reminiscent of crème brûlée.

There are numerous stories about the derivation of its name: One origin story claims it was stored by the colonists in a pie chest, ergo, a “chess.” Or, some say, when first-time eaters asked about what they were consuming, the reply came, “It's chess pie,”—the word “just” having been mistaken for chess.

Where is chess pie popular? ›

Today chess pie is most commonly associated as a dessert of the American South. Common types of chess pie are buttermilk, chocolate, lemon, and nut.

If the timer goes off and you see small bubbles in the filling around the edges of the pie, or if the filling has separated from the crust, these are signs you've overbaked the pie and you should remove it from the oven immediately.

To "dock" a pastry means to prick a pie crust with a fork before baking. This technique is a simple way to poke holes in the pastry dough. This allows the steam to escape so that the pie crust doesn't puff up in the oven.

Chess Pie is a simple baked pie consisting of a homemade pie crust and an egg, sugar, and buttermilk filling. It can be varied by adding flavorings such as lemon, vanilla, or chocolate. The recipe dates back to the 1700s, making it a pretty old American dessert.