My Granny Dabling’s Chocolate Meringue Pie

½ cup flour
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa
½ cup coffee
2 cups milk, scalded
2 yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift flour, measure, and sift again with sugar, salt and cocoa. Pour coffee into sifted dry ingredients. Blend well and add to the scalded milk in a double boiler. Cook over boiling water until mixture thickens and is smooth, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beaten egg yolks and cook about 3 minutes longer. Remove from heat and blend in butter and vanilla. Pour into 9" baked pie shell, top with mounds of chocolate meringue (recipe below) and bake in a slow oven 300°F until meringue is set. Remove from oven and let stand away from drafts until cool.

Chocolate Meringue
2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa

Beat egg whites and salt until stiff. Add sugar and cocoa. Beat until mixture is smooth, glossy and stiff. Spread on pie.

Notes: In my family, this pie was famous. At every family gathering my Granny Dabling brought this pie and it is wonderful.
I made a version using a microwave that takes a lot less time (see below). Coffee intensifies the chocolate. My grandmother always used Sanka. If you don’t want to use coffee, try Postum, or use the Mormonize version below. Butter is best for this pie, but margarine will get you there. I prefer the pie without the meringue topping, as just I can’t be bothered dealing with it.

Updated and Mormonized Granny Dabling’s Chocolate Pie
1 (9”) baked pie shell
½ cup flour
1 cup sugar
½ cup cocoa
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup dry milk powder*
2½ cups warm water*
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla

* OR use 2½ cups warm milk

Mix flour, sugar, salt, cocoa, and milk powder together in a 2-quart glass bowl. Beat in warm water. Cook in microwave for 3 minutes at highest setting. Whisk until smooth. Continue to microwave at 2-minute intervals (whisking until smooth after each time period) until thick and creamy. Beat eggs in small bowl. Slowly add about ½ cup of hot pudding mixture to beaten eggs; beat together, then pour egg mixture into total pudding mixture. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and blend in butter or margarine and vanilla and stir until smooth. Pour pudding into baked pie shell, top with mounds of chocolate meringue (recipe below) and bake in a slow oven 300°F until meringue is set. Remove from oven and let stand away from drafts until cool.