“Chess Pie” ~ One folk etymology suggests that it was referred to as “just pie”, which soon shortened to “jus’ pie” or “jess’ pie,” and then corrupted to “chess pie” ~ Wikipedia
I don’t claim to know everything there is to know about “chess pies.” I only learned about them earlier this year. I wrote about them in one of my first posts, waaaaay back when I started my blog, 2 1/2 months ago.
What I have been able to glean over the past several months, is that they are prepared like other pies….except you add BUTTER to the filling. If anyone knows differently, feel free to jump right in! All I can tell you is, I’ve experimented with several different chess pie recipes now — chocolate chess, coconut chess, lemon chess, buttermilk chess and they are DIVINE!
So, when I was preparing the pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving this year, I thought I’d try adding melted butter to my recipe and make “pumpkin chess pies.” One of my guests brought the most delicious and gorgeous Apple Tart, along with individual Chocolate Mousses (is the plural for mousse, mousses?), so I didn’t get around to eating any of the pumpkin chess until the next day, with our morning coffee. We flipped at how delicious it was! Hubby, who fancies himself a pumpkin pie connoisseur, says it’s the best I ever made and the best he’s ever had! Gotta be the butter, right?
We’re invited to a friend’s house today to watch football, so I’m bringing the second pie – I’ll let you know how everyone likes it!
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- pumpkin chess pie ingredients
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- cubed butter
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- add butter to food processor
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- pulse until …
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- dough looks like this
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- divide in two and press into disks
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- wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate
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- roll out the dough
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- DON’T FORGET THE BUTTER!
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- Pumpkin Chess Pie
NOTE: IN MY PICS, I WAS MAKING TWO PIES – THE FOLLOWING RECIPE IS FOR ONE PIE
Pumpkin Chess Pie
(recipe for 1 9-inch pie)
Pie Crust
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
5-6 tablespoons ice water
Pour flour, salt and sugar in bowl of food processor. Add the butter. Pulse for a few seconds, until mixture becomes “coarse” Add the water very slowly, while pulsing, for approximately 20-30 seconds. Don’t over mix it!
Remove the dough to a lightly floured cutting board and press into a 4-5 inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate the pastry dough for at least 1 hour.
Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. Lightly flour your cutting board or clean kitchen counter. Roll the dough in one direction, turning continuously, to keep it from sticking. I keep a container of Wondra flour nearby to dust with flour as needed.
Place and fit the dough into a 9-inch, glass pie plate and crimp or flute the edges (I’m not good at this part, so I left mine plain this time)
I had extra pastry dough, so I rolled out the rest and used a leaf-shaped cookie cutter to make the “leaves.” I dusted them with cinnamon sugar and baked them on a cookie sheet for about 25 minutes, while I baked the pie, then placed them on top of the cooled pies.
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees
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Pie Filling
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup canned (or fresh) pumpkin
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 teaspoons cornmeal
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
Blend all the ingredients together in a standing mixer or hand-held mixer, until smooth. Pour into prepared pie crust and cook for 50 minutes. Remove and cool pie on a wire rack. Cheers!
That looks and sounds very very delicious
I’m always excited to come to your blog to see all the goodies.
Oh man, I’m so gonna have to make one of those. It looks delicious!
I’d never even heard of chess pie before .. you’re so informative and it sounds delicious!
I love making pumpkin pie. The basic recipe has got to be the easiest pie on the planet to make. This sounds very rich and good with the heavy cream and the butter! And your presentation is beautiful.
I’ll have to give it a go.
Hi, sorry to bother you but this recipe sounds brill its just i need a little help. We’ve got plenty of pumpkin left over from pumpking carving at halloween that my mum froze and now with xmas coming up we need to make room in the freezer. I’ve been looking at pumpkin pies as i’m really intrigued to know what one tastes like but as i live in England i don’t think i can get hold of cornmeal, so do you know if there’s a something i could use instead? Also is heavy cream the same as double cream? :S
If anyone could help i’d really appreciate it as the photographs make this recipe looks really trustworthy,
Oh and i plan on putting 500g of pumpkin in the pie and using a pie dish with about a 28cm diameter, i hope thats ok?
Thanks so much to anyone who can help,
Kim
Hello, Kim across-the-pond!
If you have access to polenta, which I’m thinking you do, you can substitute it for the cornmeal. Just whizz it in the food processor a bit, as cornmeal in the US is a finer grind.
Yes, heavy cream=double cream. And your amount of pumpkin and size of pie dish sound fine.
Just as an FYI, here in the US the pumpkins we carve for halloween are not generally for eating (and would make a nasty pie, eek). I’m guessing that’s different there?
If you make it, you’ll have to let us know what you think! I can’t wait to try this recipe, because I love pumpkin pie anyway, but this one sounds terrific.
Cheers!
Kim in the US
Thank you so much for that helpful reply kim from the us
Its 9.30am here and i’m making it tonight after university so i was praying someone would answer as i like this recipe because of the photographs. Yeah i can get polenta so i shall definitely do that. Well i’ve eaten the pumpkin we used for carving before when it was in a stew so here’s hoping it’d be ok in a pie lol.
Yeh i will for sure let you know how the pie goes. My mum holds a christian catholic prayer group tonight so her guests will be my guinea pigs
It looks delicious but i’m still unsure whether it will taste sweet or not, i know its for dessert but i can’t imagine sweet pumpkin lol
Thanks again Kim,
Hi– I’m new to your blog, but love food… *G* For Turkey Day I made Paula Dean’s Pumkin Gooey Butter cake.
I found it to be waaaay too sweet for me and I’m thinking I might try it again at Christmas and perhaps cut the powdered sugar in half. Maybe add another 4 oz of cream cheese.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-gooey-butter-cakes-recipe/index.html
Ingredients
Cake:
1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.