Bigmama's Chocolate Pie

Bigmama’s Chocolate Pie, a recipe immortalized by a great chocolatey woman from my childhood, is a family recipe that prevails, one that every bride asks for and the one that guests always expect at my house. It is very simple, and quick to make, but chocolate, deep and dark and warm like the woman who made it. Her name was Helen Graham and she was another mother to me when I was a little girl growing up just outside the city limits of a small town in Iredell County, North Carolina. My daddy made house calls, took out tonsils and delivered the babies, while Helen worked as our family cook and caregiver. This recipe is inspired by hers, which I have made fudgier over the years, by adding a tad of unbleached flour.

My recipe card says,“Bigmama’s Chocolate Pie” and this is the official christening of that name for it. Bigmama is my own grandmother name, chosen as (comical) irony, when my daughter, a senior in college, made me a grandmother when I was 40 and a petite size 4. Helen Graham was a Bigmama in every sense of the word, and this recipe is dedicated to her. The recipe is for two pies, one for tonight, and one for breakfast…

2 sticks butter
4 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/3 to ½ cup unbleached white flour
½ teasp. Salt
2 teasp. Vanilla extract
2 prepackaged frozen pie crusts, or of course, two home made crusts
(Optional): top while hot, with a premium quality vanilla ice cream, or home made whipped cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt chocolate & butter over low heat or in glass bowl in microwave.
Combine eggs & sugar in larger bowl. Add chocolate mixture, flour, salt & vanilla, mixing well.
Bake in 2 regular frozen pie crusts at 350 for approximately 45 minutes or until centers are set.
Top with freshly whipped cream or a quality vanilla ice cream.