Back in the day, folks from South Texas and Northern Mexico would gather at the local Luby’s to enjoy a thick slice of Chocolate Meringue Pie. Velvety chocolate cream filling with a mile-high meringue that reminded us of a church lady’s hairdo – it was my favorite. The only problem was that the meringue was so high that the take-home box would crush the summit of the meringue’s deliciousness. So if we wanted a beautiful Chocolate Meringue Pie, we had to make it at home.
Blind Baking Pie Shell
One of the details of making Chocolate Meringue Pie is “blind baking” the pie shell. Once I started thinking about how I could describe the technique of blind baking, I decided the blind baking instructions would be more clear if I made a video of the process. It’s a little mind-stretching to think you need to bake uncooked beans in an uncooked pie shell in order to achieve a delicious pie, but like the church lady, you must have faith. Blind baking is a tried and true method for making a simple pie crust for cream filled pies.
Blind baking pie shells is also a necessary step when you make fresh fruit filled pies, such as Fresh Strawberry Pie or Fresh Grapefruit Pie. Obviously, the pie shell is baked and the fruit isn’t. And if you are sheltering at home these days and don’t feel like running to the store for a pre-baked pie crust, this recipe will provide some stay-at-home convenience.
Chocolate Meringue Pie is a Texas Fave!
There are few desserts as delicious as chocolate pie. Even though I adore the old-fashioned mile-high meringue, you can always opt to top the pie with whipped cream instead of meringue. Simply blind bake the pie shell, fill with the delicious chocolate filling and then top with whipped cream. Or you can present your Chocolate Meringue Pie with the mile-high meringue AND whipped cream. That might be too much. But in the spirit of church ladies everywhere, you should go for it. Like they say, the higher the hairdo, the closer you are to Heaven!
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