Chocolate Pie

I really need to make a new one, minus the burned meringue, just to take a picture. I learned a valuable lesson with this recipe...don't blink when you are "cooking" the pie or your meringue will burn.

That being said, this is yummy.

It is my mother-in-law's recipe. (And she reassured me that yes, the meringue does burn easily :).

In fact, every time we go to their house (which isn't too often due to the miles between us), she makes at least one for us. And my family can sure chow down on it!

This past year I asked my firstborn what kind of cake he wanted. I have ALWAYS decorated their cakes. Always.

Except this year he didn't want cake. He wanted pie. Chocolate pie.

The typed recipe I have actually says "Chocolate Pie to Die For".

I was a little nervous. Cakes I know. Pies I am not as sure about.

But I gave it a try.

And it turned out fine. At least until I burned the meringue. (If you just lifted that part off, the rest was scrumptious.)

Ingredients:
Pie crust (I just bought a package of two pie crusts in the freezer section...I was worried about the rest of the pie and didn't want to worry about making the crust too)

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour or 3 tablespoons cornstarch

6 tbsps cocoa

2 cups milk

3 slightly beaten egg yolks (save whites for meringue)

4 tbsps margarine

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Crimp edges of pie crust and prick bottom with a fork. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes or until golden.

In a saucepan, mix sugar, flour, and cocoa. Add milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until begins to thicken.

Add egg yolks and cook until thick.

Note: Getting it to thicken took a while. I was really worried it wasn't going to thicken at all and thought I had done something wrong. Just when I was about to give up, it started to thicken. So be patient on this part. :)

Remove from heat and add margarine and vanilla.

Let cool some.

Put in baked pie shell.

To make meringue, beat egg whites on high speed, slowly adding six tablespoons of sugar plus one more for good measure. When stiff, spread on top of pie and place under broiler until top is brown. Not blackened. :)

I HIGHLY recommend using a mixer for the egg whites and sugar. Mark had told me all about how his grandfather used to sit on the front porch with a fork or a spoon, whipping the mixture until it was stiff. We have tried it before. It didn't work. His grandfather must have had magic hands. MUCH faster with a mixer.

Also, I read on-line somewhere that you should add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. I believe I also read to use superfine sugar which I did.

When you spread it on top of the pie, you want to spread it all over or it will "shrink" on you pretty quick.

And last but not least, don't forget to watch it when it is under the broiler. :) It cooks much faster than you would think. It can go from white to very dark brown (almost black) in a matter of seconds.

Enjoy!
Reba