Take a quart of cream, & when it boyles take 14 eggs If they be very yallow take out 2 or 3 of the youlks put them into cream when it boyles & keep it with continuall stirring till it be thick like curd. To make very good cheesecakes without cheese curd Mid 1700s – From the cookbook Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess: One explanation suggests that the word is chest, pronounced with a drawl and used to describe these pies baked with so much sugar they could be stored in a pie chest rather than refrigerated.Īnother story is about the plantation cook who was asked what she was baking that smelled so great – “Jes pie was her answer.” Basically the Chess Pie is a cheese-less cheesecake. The most probable explanation is that since the English lemon curd pie filling is very close to lemon chess pie, and they believe the word “chess” is an Americanization of the English word “cheese,” referring to curd pie. The origin of the name, Chess Pie, is uncertain, but there are plenty of guesses and a bit of folklore surrounding the name. Flavorings, such as vanilla, lemon juice, or chocolate are also added to vary the basic recipe. ome recipes include cornmeal and others are made with vinegar.

Chess pies are a Southern specialty that has a simple filling of eggs, sugar, butter, and a small amount of flour.

Chocolate chess pie