Below is my Gram Perkins’ famous chocolate pie recipe that my cousin Joy continues to make. It was printed in 1958 in the “Favorite Recipes of Alabama Vocational Home Economics Teachers” cook book. My mother gave me a copy of this book when I moved into my first apartment. You can find other great community cooking in A Gracious Plenty by John T. Edge and Ellen Rolfes.

LUCILLE’S CHOCOLATE PIE

8-inch Pie – Serves 6

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flower
1 cup sweet milk
2 egg yolks (beaten)
1/3 cup cocoa
2 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 baked pastry shell

Mix the sugar and flour together. Add milk and cook in double boiler until thick (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat and add beaten egg yolks. Mix cocoa with enough boiling water to form paste and add this paste to mixture in double boiler. Return to heat and cook until thick. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Cool and pour into baked pie shell, top with meringue (recipe below) and brown in 324 degree F. oven. (When cooking a 9-inch pie, double this recipe for thicker, more decadent pie.)

MERINGUE 8-INCH PIE

2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla

MERINGUE 9-INCH PIE

3 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla

MERINGUE 10-INCH PIE

4 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon vanilla

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stand in a peak. After the egg whites peak, beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time and continue beating until stiff and glossy. Fold in vanilla lightly and spread on top of prepared pie.