Chess Pie

Ok. I promised pie. So, here we go. Pie.

I love looking for some sort of "exotic" or at least unusual pie to make for pie day. This year I added the challenge of not making a fruit pie. So, I found this. I had heard of chess pie, but I honestly thought of some sort of black and white checked thing. Not so appetizing for pie. But I decided this time, I'd try it. Plus, I'd always wanted to try a meringue pie. You know me and meringue. So I looked up what it is, and decided it would be good.

Ok. So NES was here, and I had already made 8 dozen cookies and we had written pi on them. So I pulled the pie recipe up, and bang. There it was: "heat, stirring, until dissolved" -- problem. I have issues with dissolving things. Not always or as often as I do with thickening things, but it actually went well. I've been told that I usually just don't have it warm enough to dissolve it in less than an hour. The fact that I was using a hotter, gas stove and it worked fine and quickly, makes me think that maybe that's true.

It didn't seem like half a cup of milk and a stick of butter would be enough liquid for putting 2 cups of sugar on the stove. But it worked. I'm glad I didn't add extra liquid.

I realized that I was basically making caramel. And that's pretty much what it tastes like.

Oh, and I didn't have an egg separator. Uh oh. I rely heavily on my egg separator at home. But! But! I separated the eggs using a cup and the shells.

And I didn't lose any. It was truly shocking.

I also used a WHOLE small bottle of vanilla in one afternoon. Oops.

Oh, one problem with this recipe? It doesn't say how long to bake it when you turn it down. Less than helpful. I guessed.

And, it was still gooey in the middle. It didn't kill us, but still. I have a feeling that it isn't supposed to be like that.

So, then when it cooled enough, I put the meringue on. I had forgotten that the meringue that goes on pies is fluffy, not hard.

Meringue pie.

Meringue (from an amazing Italian bakery).

Different.

But I was excited that I could still put pi on it.

Then, although it was not quite 3.14 yet, we ate pie. And it was good. And there's more where that came from.