Pies comes in many sizes, shapes, and fillings!! This chess pie is a single crust pie with a simple filling made with eggs, lemon, sugar, and butter. It’s made with one stick of butter so you know it must be good!! Ladies and gentlemen, the Classic Chess Pie!
For the 3rd pie of PIE MONTH, I wanted to try something new besides the usual fruit pies. So when I looked for another pie cookbook I came across this book called “Pie“. Just Pie. It’s a simple name yet it’s packed with 300 recipes!!
At first I was a little bit overwhelmed when I saw this book. That is almost a pie for every day of the year! But the more I keep reading it, the more I can’t put it down. Ken Haedrich is great teacher and story teller. No surprise there since he is the founder and “Dean” of the Pie Academy. There’s an academy for Pie!! That’s my kind of academy!!
The Pie Academy has what’s called a Lowcountry Pie Getaway. It’s a 3 day weekend on October 6,7,8 in Charleston, SC, where you can meet Ken, learn how to make pies and the fun part, eating some pies. It looks really fun and you can read the previous events right here.
Back to the book. This 639 pages book that is filled with 300 recipes is very interesting, because :
- It is meant for someone who loves to read cookbooks as if they are reading a novel.
- It doesn’t have a lot of pictures so you can use your own imagination!!
- It has 21 crust recipe!!! We have a winner!!! 😛
- For some of the crusts, the author gives us 3 ways of making the crust; food processor, by hand and with an electric mixer. My favorite is still by hand because you can get a feel of how moist a crust is with your hand.
- My favorite part about this book is how he has many stories about the pie and many tips on how to make them. At the end of every recipe, it has a “Recipe for success” where he gives many tips for bakers. It’s like having your very own personal teacher at your home!
When I googled the origin of chess pie, there were quite a few versions that came up. One version said that it might be because the recipe of chess pie and the English lemon curd (almost like a cheesecake) are similar (both has egg, butter, lemon and sugar, but the curd is cooked on the stove). Another is because it’s origin is in the south, legend has it that one of the cook of the plantation made this pie. When asked what the name was she said,”Just pie”, which with the southern accent might sound like “chess pie”. Whatever the history is, it is just a really delicious pie!
Chess pie is a pie with the simple filling of eggs, sugar, butter, and a small amount of flour. However, you can add many different ingredients to it to make it unique. The book has recipes where you can add lemon, cornmeal, chocolate or vanilla. One of my favorite flavor is lemon so I made the lemon chess pie.
So making the crust of the pie is pretty much the same as usual crust. Have cold ingredients, mix the ingredients except for the water together, add half of water needed and then mix together with a fork, and then add water little by little until you get the right dough, wrap in a ball, refrigerate, roll it out and put it in your pie plate, refrigerate and then prebake. Phewwww…. Try saying that in one breath! Now for the next part, the filling.
At the “Recipe for Success” section, he share how to not worry if the filling looks curdled after you blend in the lemon juice. This is why I love this book! If he didn’t share this part, I might’ve thrown the filling away!
The pie is just divine!!! It has a smooth texture, a lemony aroma (especially when you take it out of the oven … mmmmmm……), and the crust has that crunch that just the right vehicle for the smooth filling. What a great pie!!
Tips for making this Classic Chess Pie :
- The crust needs to be prebaked so you need to allot some time for it.
- Put in the filling on a cool pie crust.
- To check if it’s ready to take out, nudge the pie gently. It it still moves, then it need a few more minutes.
- The crust will be brown but it will not taste burnt. Just delicious!
Happy Baking!!
| Prep Time | 2 hours |
| Cook Time | 45-50 minutes |
| Servings |
12 slices
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- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
- 1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 cup ice cold water
- 3 cups uncooked rice or dried beans
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 tbsp flour
- Pinch of salt
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Ingredients
Single pie crust
Classic Lemon Chess Pie Filling
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- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt with your hand. Add the cubes of butter and pieces of shortening in the mixture. Using a pastry blender or your hand, cut the butter and shortening into the flour. Keep mixing until you have small pea size flour.
- Sprinkle half of the water and using a fork, mix and fluff the mixture. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time and keep mixing with your hand. If it's too crumbly, add more water. If it's too wet, add a little bit of flour. You want it to be moist but not wet.
- Knead a little bit and then shape into a ball. Flatten into a disc and wrap in a plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight before rolling.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Take out the crust out the plastic wrap and put on a floured surface. Roll out into the size of your pie plate with a 2 inch overhang. Put the crust onto the pie plate and gently push the sides so it rests on your pie plate. Make the edges by folding the overhang into the side of the pie plate. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Tear off an aluminum foil to a size that is bigger than your pie plate. Put it on top of the pie crust and make the foil like a second skin of the crust. Put uncooked rice or dried beans on top of the foil.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Slide out the oven rack and take out the foil. Prick the pastry all around the crust. Lower oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake again for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a stand mixer, cream butter and add sugar 1/4 cup at a time. Add flour and salt and mix.
- Add eggs on at a time and mix after adding each one. Mix in lemon juice and lemon zest. It will look curdled but that is what it is suppose to look like.
- Pour the filling into the cooled pie shell. Bake for 45 minutes, turning it halfway around the baking time. To see if the pie is ready, nudge the pie plate gently and see if the center of the pie still moves. If it does, bake for another 5 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Adapted from : Pie
