Grandma’s Chess Pie Recipe

Grandma’s Chess Pie is an old family favorite that my grandma would often make. This rich, creamy, buttery dessert is made with simple pantry ingredients and is surprisingly easy to put together. Also known as pantry pie or cornmeal pie, this old-fashioned dessert is a wonderful example of how a few basic ingredients can make something truly delicious.

My grandparents lived through the Great Depression, and at one point my grandpa worked for a payment of milk and eggs while my grandma stayed home with their four children. Grandma often spoke about the simple dishes she would make because she had only basic ingredients and a large family to feed. This old-fashioned chess pie recipe is nearly 100 years old and is one of those simple, yet inexpensive dishes that she used to make.

What is Chess Pie?

There are many theories about how chess pie got its name and where it originated. After researching its history, I found several consistent accounts that trace the pie back to England before it became a Southern staple in the United States. One thing most of these accounts have in common is that chess pie was made with basic pantry staples, making it an inexpensive dessert for families who had to make the most of what they had. Some recipes also refer to it as pantry pie or cornmeal pie.

Ingredients in Chess Pie

Chess pie has many recipe variations across the Internet. Some use buttermilk, some use lemon, and one popular theory suggests that chestnut flour or meal may have once been used as a thickener. However, my grandma’s recipe uses basic ingredients like eggs, milk, vanilla, sugar, and butter. The two unexpected ingredients are cornmeal and vinegar, which help give this pie its distinctive flavor and texture. This is also why some people refer to it as cornmeal pie.

Vinegar is used in the recipe to help cut the sweetness. Some chess pie recipes call for lemon instead, but according to the University of California, citrus was difficult for many families to afford during the Great Depression. Vinegar, on the other hand, was an inexpensive ingredient stocked in most pantries, making it a practical way to add the acidity this sweet pie needs.

Cornmeal was a vital pantry staple during the Great Depression becuase it was inexpensive, shelf-stable, and easy to obtain. It was used as a thickener in the custard filling, and created the pie’s signature golden-brown crust on top. There is also a theory that cornmeal was sometimes used as a substitute when other types of flour weren’t available.

My grandma was resourceful with whatever ingredients were in her pantry, and I know she always had cornmeal on hand. My grandparents were super thrifty and could make good use of whatever they were blessed to have during hard times.

How to Make Chess Pie

Honestly, this pie is so simple to make. All you do is whisk the ingredients together and pour them into an unbaked pie shell. When I make this pie, I take a shortcut and use a frozen pie crust. It only bakes for 35-40 minutes, and you have a delicious pie ready to serve.

My Grandma’s Recipes

I love having this space on the Internet to document some of my grandma’s recipes. Many of her recipes are so simple since money was often tight and she only had few ingredients.

She was a fantastic cook and taught me how to cook many of her favorite family recipes. I would sit with her for hours and write them down because she knew most of them by memory. At one time, my dad documented several of them for a family cookbook.

You can find my grandma’s recipes I’ve documented in Grandma’s Recipes. If you are a pie connoisseur, you might want to check out my mother-in-law’s Old Fashioned Chocolate Pie recipe that has been handed down for many generations.

xoxo,
Molly