Chocolate Chess Pie

This easy recipe for chocolate chess pie is basically a creamy slice of fudge in a piecrust.  The dessert of your chocolate dreams!

Chess pie is a traditional Southern favorite – it’s basically a rich custard conglomeration of eggs and sugar and butter and evaporated milk.

Chocolate chess pie is all that with some chocolate thrown in, and I would be more than happy to make it for any old reason, but the reason I’m making it today is that it is my sweet son-in-law’s birthday!

We pretty much knew from the start that the Southern daughter had found the best guy in the world to live happily ever after with, but now having lived with him in our multigenerational situation for almost six months, I feel like I’ve also hit the jackpot myself.

Most importantly because he looks at our daughter this way all the time.

And because from the very start he was all in on building this house together. It’s such a huge leap of faith to move in with your in-laws, but he has been nothing but positive and excited and a lot calmer than his mother-in-law.

He loves to cook almost as much as I do. This was how he greeted us after that 8 hour drove down from New Jersey last summer…with a taco salad that he whipped up himself.

I learn from him pretty much daily about how important it is to enjoy and give thanks for the moment, whatever the moment brings. And to jump into life with joy, even if it involves a slightly chilly lake.

And (did I mention this?) he is devoted to my bunny.

So for all that and so much more, I am making his very favorite chocolate chess pie today!

Here’s how you make chocolate chess pie!

Preheat your oven to 350 and spray a nine inch pie plate with cooking spray.

Line the pie plate with the pie crust (you can of course make your own, but I promise that the store bought ones work just fine!).

Put 1 ½ cups sugar, 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 five ounce can of evaporated milk, 4 tablespoons of melted butter, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and ¼ teaspoon sea salt in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until everything is totally combined.  

Pour this chocolate heaven into the pie crust.

Bake your pie for 45 minutes or until the filling is firm along the sides (it might still be a little wiggly in the middle – that’s okay!)

Cool until just warm (and this pie is also awesome chilled, by the way).  

Right before you serve it, you can fancy it up by shaking on some confectioner’s sugar if you want.  I do this by putting about ¼ or so in a fine mesh strainer and tapping the side of it so it showers down on the pie.  Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Oh, and my sweet son-in-law?

Whatever you are wishing for on this birthday, I hope all of them come true!