Chess Pie

My husband and I were lucky enough to have dinner with some of my family tonight, so I thought I should share a tried and true family recipe.  More specifically my paternal Grandmother's recipe for Chess Pie.

For those not from the south, the name for Chess Pie is arbitrary.  There is no "chess" that goes into this pie, but my family still jokes about the "baby Chessies" that must ripen before pie can be made.  It is basically a buttermilk pie.  Somehow, my pie never turns out quite as good as Grandmother's (why is that always the case with passed-down recipes???), but it's a crowd pleaser none the less.

Ingredients:

1 Stick of Butter

1 1/2 Cups of Sugar

4 Tbs Flour

3 Eggs

1 Cup Buttermilk

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract (I'm a wild child with the vanilla and usually use 1 Tbs... don't tell Grandmother!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar.  Add flour. Whisk in eggs, then buttermilk and vanilla. Pour into prepared pie crust... today I used a refrigerated store bought (again, don't tell Grandmother!) one, but I would usually make my own.  Remind me to share that recipe someday...

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour... until the filling is no longer very jiggly.  Cool on a rack to room temperature  before serving.

 Don't be like me... I was a little over-zealous with the tin foil that I used to protect the crust from burning.  Hence the 
triangle of browned pie filling in the middle.  No one eating the pie complained, though!

UPDATE:  I made another chess pie a few days ago, and it turned out much prettier than the one above.  Here's proof!

Actually, this one is only marginally prettier, but at least it doesn't have the "devil triangle" (my mother's description, not mine... I'm not entirely sure what is devilish about a triangle...) browned on the top like the other one!