A Gift from Christmas Past

For some reason, my family doesn't really have that many family recipes...at least not many that I think of as family recipes. However, I have had a recipe card in my grandmother's (MaG) handwriting since I moved. I was just waiting for the right time to use it. The recipe is for a chocolate meringue pie. Pretty simple but oh so good. A couple of weeks ago, my Sunday School class had our Christmas party; I decided this was the perfect time! The pie uses one pie crust...so I used the recipe from my other grandmother (Granny). Making a pie crust is really pretty simple, you just have to get used to rolling it out. I almost burned the chocolate but pulled it off in the (St.) Nick of time. Then I came to a dilema...the instructions say to put butter in the chocolate mixture and stir but has NO amount of butter. It also says to use 3 egg whites for the meringue but doesn't tell any other ingredients. I couldn't get in touch with my mom so I just assumed that the amount of butter was around 2 Tablespoons and looked up how to do a meringue online. It all turned out great. My meringue even looked good...until the next morning when it had shrunk! Oh, well. When I cut into the pie I was so pleased...it looked like MaG's pie. One person even said it tasted just like something her grandmother would have made! Perfect! Chocolate Pie
1 cup sugar
2 T cocoa (or 1 oz baking chocolate)
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks (save the whites for the meringue)
2 T butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 baked pie shell (9inch) **

For meringue: 3 egg whites
3/4 cup (more or less - depending on your desired sweetness)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

In sauce pan, combine first four ingredients (sugar, cocoa, flour, salt); gradually add milk and stir. Cook and stir over medium heat till bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir small amount of hot mixture into egg yolks; immediately return to hot mixture; cook 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Pour into cooled pie crust. *Spread merinuge atop pie and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until meringue browns. Cool.

*For meringue, whip 3 egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add sugar slowly. Then add cream of tartar for stabilization.

**Pie Crust

1 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 T water
1/3 cup shortening

Sift flour and salt into bowl. Remove 1/4 cup flour and blend to a paste. Cut shortening into remaining flour until pieces are size of small peas. Add paste to flour mixture. Mix with fork until dough comes together and can be shaped into a ball (this is best done by putting a piece of saran wrap over the bowl, dumping it, and pressing the dough together.) Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Roll out crust to 1/8 inch thick to cover 9-inch pie pan.

For this pie, prick holes in the crust with a fork or fill with uncooked peas or pie weights. Heat oven to 400 degrees F and bake for 10 minutes.