Lemon Chess Pie

  Chess pies come to us from England, mostly by way of the South. A common form of Chess Pie is Pecan Pie. There are many variations of this, of course any nuts including peanuts can be used instead of Pecans. 

  One of my favorite variations is Lemon Chess Pie. This recipe in the Southern Living best comfort recipes, caught my eye, mainly because there was no cornmeal in it. A lot of chess pies use this instead of nuts. Also, this recipe beat the egg whites separately making a type of Meringue baked with the pie. If you look at the picture, you can see the top of the pie has the separation of layers.

  I want to recommend this recipe. It was so easy to make, has a great lemon flavor and the texture is smooth and silky. I did put it in a regular unbaked pie crust and baked it with the filling. Worked out just fine. We are not big fans of crumb crusts so I checked other recipes and they all had regular pie crusts and the filling poured into an unbaked crust. 

  Lemon Chess Pie

1 ready-made shortbread pie crust

1 egg white, lightly beaten

4 large eggs, separated

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

½ cup fresh lemon juice

  Preheat oven to 350°. Brush pie crust with beaten egg white. Bake 6 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. (abut 30 minutes.) If you use a regular pie crust, use it unbaked.

  Beat 4 egg white at high speed until stiff peaks form.

  Whisk together 4 egg yolks, sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl until blended. Stir in lemon juice. Fold in egg whites. Pour mixture into cooled or unbaked pie crust.

  Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes until set (if using unbaked pie crust put rack at lowest setting). Cover lightly with foil if getting too brown. Remove from oven to wire rack and cool completely. About one hour. Garnish, if desired. Whipping cream and lemon peel, or fresh raspberries.

*Note there are only 4 ingredients in this pie. Do use fresh lemon juice, save the peel in the freezer, and real butter. With just these few ingredients, it is important to use the ingredients called for.