Dec 16, 2013 3 min read

While other families’ Thanksgiving dessert was a pumpkin custard pie, ours were chocolate chiffon and pumpkin chiffon pies. My mom said my Dad didn’t like traditional pumpkin pies, preferring pumpkin chiffon. But the real star of the Thanksgiving desserts at our house was that chocolate chiffon pie.

One year, my parents transported this pie in an iced cooler from Pittsburgh to suburban Philadelphia for a family dinner, whipping the cream for the topping after they arrived.

As a youngster, I wasn’t schooled in the difference between an ordinary chocolate pie and chocolate chiffon. One day before Thanksgiving, with my mom sick in bed, I baked the pie shell from her recipe, but I randomly checked a cookbook other than Betty Crocker for the filling. It was a chocolate pudding pie, and although I made the pudding from scratch on the stovetop, it was no match for the light and airy chocolate chiffon.

Chocolate Chiffon Pie

Ingredients

9-inch baked pie shell (see below)

1/2 cup sugar

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups water

2 ounces melted, unsweetened chocolate (cool)

3 eggs, separated

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup chilled whipping cream

Bake pie shell. Stir together 1/2 cup sugar, the gelatin and salt in small saucepan; stir in water and chocolate. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until blended. Remove from heat. Beat egg yolks slightly; slowly stir in chocolate mixture. Return mixture to saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly just until mixture boils. Place pan in bowl of ice and water or chill in refrigerator, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from spoon. Stir in vanilla.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Beat in 1/2 cup sugar, one tablespoon at a time; continue beating until stiff and glossy. Do not underbeat. Fold chocolate mixture into meringue. In chilled bowl, beat cream until stiff; fold into chocolate mixture. Pile into baked pie shell. Chill at least three hours or until set. If desired, serve with sweetened whipped cream and sprinkle with chocolate curls.

Water-whip crust (for 9-inch pie)

Ingredients

1/2 cup less 1 tablespoon shortening

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons boiling water

1 teaspoon milk

1 1/4 cup flour

Place shortening and salt in mixing bowl. Add boiling water and milk and whip with fork until thick and all liquid is absorbed. Add flour and stir quickly into dough. Roll between two 12-inch squares of waxed paper into a circle an eighth-inch thick. Peel off top paper. Fit over pie pan, remove paper and flute edges. Prick shell with fork. Bake in hot oven, 450 degrees, for 14 to 19 minutes. Cool. Add pie filling.

Barbara S. Miller, staff writer