Vintage Chocolate Pie
If you're looking for a delicious vintage chocolate pie recipe, try our VintageChocolate Piefor the holidays. Ithas adelicate, flaky butter crust with a chocolate filling that's cooked on the stove and poured into the baked shell.The pie willset on the counterin a few hours or goin the refrigerator to firm up and in our home is usually served with a dollop of whipped cream after the Thanksgiving or Christmas meal. The result is a rich and decadent pudding-style chocolate pie with a bit of salt in the crust that serves well that day, can sit out overnight and canalso store in the refrigerator for a few days – if it lasts that long!The pudding filling can also be made and served on its own for a quick weeknight dessert.
But where was her inspiration for this? Most Americans eating dessert in the earlier end of the 1900s made coconut cream, vinegar, walnut, pecan, or apple for holidays. But like many wives coming out of the WWII era and wanting to start fresh, our Nana looked at what was modern.Pumpkin Pie was the rage in the 1950s with a recipe printed on the back of canned pumpkin – she made that and it was specially reserved for Thanksgiving, butusually she made two pies for holidays to have options for guests (and leftovers). Chocolate was a bit more indulgent and a perennial favorite of Grandad’s so it often became the other pie at Thanksgiving and was always served at Christmas.
While she kept some southern traditions at the table (like dressing the table formally and serving condiments with a meal), she fully embraced modern style – of course this is what we now term Mid-Century Modern or MCM.She was into hues of orange and brown in décor, became a master flower arranger in Ikebana, had a wood base glass kitchen table with molded back chairs, loved mosaic tile, collected art pottery, held colorful bridge parties and despite her grand achievements, this former tomboy made the kitchen an adventure.
Modern cookbooks in the 1950s began using a lot of shortcuts and pre-manufactured items such as preservatives, oleo or pre-baked crusts. She wasn't against this as much as we are today. She used as needed, reminding us that preservatives weren’t all bad becausepeopleused to die from botulism after eating a spoiled pie.But that’s another story.This recipe holds true to her style: indulgent, easy to make, versatile, and a modern take on pie that’s become a staple for our family.
The most wonderful aspect of this recipe is that this VintageChocolate Pie can be made with a number of variations. Because of the pudding style of this dessert, it is a perfect dish to serve as you can put it together fairly quickly. It’s also easy to master for a young baker. You can use the butter crust recipe we’ve listed here or make it with shortening (Nana was a fan of Crisco; it really does make a fabulous crust, but we’ve used butter because of what we now know about partially hydrogenated fats). It’s delicious topped with sweetened whipped cream or covered in a thick meringue (just top the pie with meringue and bake in the oven 10 minutes at 350 degrees). It can also be served room temperature, chilled or even frozen and sliced. Nana also made versions of this with pecans and with walnuts. But cooked on the stovetop with her favorite worn wooden spoon was the way she liked best to make chocolate pie.
One of her most famous instructions is essential to this pie: Do NOT panicwhen you pull the filling off the heat and it’s still very liquid! She would chuckle as she said it, knowing full well we would panic and call her to ask about what we did wrong. Like all things worthwhile, the pudding takes time to set.
We recommend making this the day ahead of your event to keep the kitchen from getting clutteredor make it earlier in the day. Also we make the crust in our stand mixer rather than by hand as she did with a pastry cutter.
Timing is essentialfor a holiday pie. This pie is perfect; itcan be made in a reasonable amount of time, doesn’t crowd the oven and can be set aside while the more fussy dishes are made. Plus the deep chocolate flavor is a perfect palate cleanserafter a mostly carbohydrate-soaked meal. Don’t skimp on the salt in the crust or in the filling as it adds to the salty-sweet decadence of this pie. Try it first the way we’ve written it, then come up with your own adaptations and let us know!
Serves 8
Total time to make: 1 hour + Time to set (several hours)
RECIPE: VintageChocolate Pie
Butter Pie Crust
These ingredients will make one 10-inch crust.
12 T butter cut into tablespoon size pats (1 ½ sticks)
1 ½ C AP flour (don’t use self-rising flour)
1 tsp kosher salt
¼ C ice water + 1 to 2 T additional as needed
Add all ingredients except water to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Blend on medium for 3-4 minutes to coat the fat with the flour.
While mixer is running add ¼ C water all at once (restraining the ice).
Continue mixing another 2-3 minutes until the mixture resembles coarse, small pieces. Try not to overmix. If it looks dry and has more than ½ the flour mixture loose in the bottom of the bowl, add 1 T water at a time while mixer is running to help coat the dry pieces. Do not let it get wet and sticky like bread dough! When finished it should look like little pieces.
Lay down a 15” long piece of plastic wrap onto the counter and dump out the pie crust pieces onto it. Take each corner and pull up to the middle and twist the wrap to seal it, making a ball. Turn the sealed dough ball over and press out into about a 6” disc with your hands. The seal from the back should hold while you do this. Place the disc in the refrigerator for an hour or overnight so that gluten strands will form.
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.Roll out the disc onto a floured surface, and place dough crust into a pie pan, forming the fluted edges by pinching your thumb between your first and third fingers. Place a piece of parchment on top of the crust and add pie weights into the bottom for cooking or prick crust with a fork before baking to keep it from forming bubbles.
Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, lift out the parchment and the weights and let crust cool on a rack while you prepare the filling.
Chocolate Filling
2 eggs, beaten with beater
2/3 C sugar
Heaping T flour
Heaping T cocoa (we used Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa)
3 C milk
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 C chocolate chips
Whisk the eggs with a whisk or beater until fully beaten, about 3-5 minutes in a separate bowl. This is an important first step so you don’t cook the eggs over the heat in the saucepan.
In a saucepot, mix together eggs, sugar, flour, cocoa, milk, salt and chocolate chips.On medium heat, stir constantly until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken. If it is still lumpy, whisk the lumps out. Stir until it boils, then cook for 5 minutes more, continuing to stir to release the steam.It should look thick and grainy and a bit glossy. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.Let cool while stirring (removes extra moisture as steam) for about 10-15 minutes.
Pour into baked pie shell, taking care that shell is cool (if it’s still warm, this will trap moisture in the crust).Allow pie to set for several hours.Can place into refrigerator to speed up the process.
Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and enjoy a vintage recipe brought forward to the modern age!
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