The Beauty of Chocolate Chess Pie from the Bakehouse
Wonderful chocolatey deliciousness in a cultured butter crust
Here’s the latest in my long list (per the opening essay) of already great Zingerman’s products that have been made even better in the last few months through the addition of the Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter. Word from the Bakeshop crew, by the way, is that these terrific Chocolate Chess Pies are selling better than ever this year. It’s more evidence that momentum is building!
Over the 20-plus years we’ve been making it, Chocolate Chess Pie has quietly become a big favorite here at the Bakehouse. As The New York Times wrote a few years back, chocolate chess pie is “the perfect move for a gathering where some people want pie, some want chocolate and everyone wants something sweet.” Closer to home, it’s one of longtime Bakeshop manager Jake Emberling’s favorites out of the hundreds of terrific treats we make regularly.
The original recipes for chess pie call for lemon filling and appear in the English author Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy from 1747. The history of chocolate chess pie is far shorter since chocolate came into popular use in cooking and everyday eating in the U.S. only toward the latter part of the 19th century. Most likely, it would date to the early years of the 20th century, when American bakers began putting what would then have been a cutting-edge chocolate custard into their pie shells in place of the more typical citrus. And the rest is culinary history!
Our Chocolate Chess Pie is basically a rich and creamy baked chocolate custard in an all-butter crust. We use a very special dark chocolate from Mindo Chocolate Makers in Dexter, Michigan, to take this pie over the top. The Chocolate Chess has been described by some as “a brownie in a pie shell,” and it’s definitely a staff favorite. I like to top it with toasted walnuts or hazelnuts. Great with a big dollop of homemade whipped cream. You could gild the lily by serving a small scoop of chocolate or vanilla gelato on the side.
The pie’s crust—like the Sour Cream Coffee Cake—has been made better by the addition of Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter. In fact, the crust has become so tasty that I would be happy to nibble it on its own with a cup of our good 2025 Holiday Blend coffee. Better still, now that it has this terrific butter in the crust, consider adopting the Vermont tradition of pie for breakfast and start your day with it. This pie is sort of like a cold plate of super-tasty hot chocolate to get your morning going. However you eat it, it’s luscious, creamy, sweet, and wonderfully chocolatey!
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