I have a love and hate relationship with pie. I either LOVE a pie to no end, or won’t touch it. Most pie crusts I’m not a fan of. Weird right? Maybe that’s my next project, to make a pie crust I like.

But most of the time if there is no crust, I’m a fan. Chess Pie, this one at least, has no crust. Think of it like a really big vanilla custard pie or creme brûlée. Not exactly the same, but you get the idea.

Since I’ve organized my kitchen a little more, baking has honestly become so much easier. I get everything out, and don’t have to fight with piles of kitchen crap. I still have a lot more to clean out…but I’ll save that for a different day.

This recipe is super simple and you probably already have all of the ingredients. There is nothing fancy about it. I’m assuming that the reason this was a staple in Southern homes is because they made food with what they already had in the house.

The one thing I didn’t have was cornmeal, but you can easily substitute that with flour.

Get the kids in the kitchen with this recipe too. You pretty much dump all the ingredients into a mixing bowl one at a time and bake. No special baking skills needed. 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 stick butter softened
• 3 eggs slightly beaten
• 1 Tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon flour or cornmeal (whatever you have on hand)
• 1 Tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

In your mixer or large bowl, combine the sugar and butter. Add the eggs and mix well. Next add the vinegar, milk, flour, and vanilla. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.  Pour into a pie dish – double the recipe if you want a deep pie.  As you can see from my pictures, mine is very thin but very rich. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 50-55 minutes.  Pie should be golden brown on top and mostly solid in the middle when done (make sure to check with a toothpick or it will be difficult to cut).  Cool before cutting.

As you can see I should have let it bake a little bit longer. My timer was somehow shut off… not by my husband of course…but some other random person who must like to shut off my baking timers.

The top layer is my favorite. If you like the sugar crust on a creme brûlée, you’ll appreciate this one too.