Chess Pie - Home Sweet Home Bake Along 45/100 #CookBlogShare

This week I am once again hosting #CookBlogShare, and really looking forward to seeing what everyone makes. I am continuing baking through the Hummingbird Bakery book, Home Sweet Home, and we are finally coming up to halfway through! Please read on for more details, or scroll to the bottom of this post for the linky.

Somehow I managed to only take the one photo of this bake - I think I was overly distracted by the Charlotte Russe. Chess Pie is a Deep South pie - the origins of the name are somewhat disputed.

Essentially it is a tooth-achingly sweet custard (I thought I'd done something wrong until I read a few blurbs online) with a little cornmeal to make a caramelised crust, all stuffed in a pastry case. It contains diabetes inducing amounts of sugar and is the opposite of anything "clean" or "healthy" - and my goodness me, is it good.

Ingredients:
Crust:
110g cold unsalted butter, cubed
225g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
80g caster sugar
1 large egg
Filling:
100g unsalted butter, softened
400g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
60ml double cream
1 tbsp fine cornmeal
1 tbsp white vinegar.
Pithy instructions:
Pastry: Rub butter into flour, stir in sugar, stir in egg. Bring together into a dough, then into a ball, do not overwork. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30mins, then use to line a 23cm diameter pie dish. Chill for another 20 minutes, then bake blind at 170C for 10 minutes, then remove paper and beans and bake for a further 15 minutes. Leave to cool
Filling: Once the pastry is cool - cream together butter, sugar and vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time and beat in. Stir remaining ingredients together in a jug, then add to butter mixture. Pour filling into pie crust. Bake at 200C for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 150C and bake for a further 40-45 minutes, until the pie is just set, with a very slight wobble. The top will crack as it cools - this is okay. Chill in the fridge overnight before serving.

Next up: Pumpkin Bars

HTML code to insert Home Sweet Home badge (copy and paste): 

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LINKY:

An InLinkz Link-up

Edited to add: if you tweet me @Beckie_A I will retweet your #cookblogshare link.