Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so you're probably cleaning house, baking bread, finishing up those pies, and dealing with the turkey, which at this point is often causing anxiety.
No? In that case, you are probably on the other side of the feast: the invited guest, who gets to drive over the river and through the woods to the feast which someone else is preparing and cleaning up for right this minute.
You have the leisure to dazzle people with this wonderful old-fashioned pie. Follow the directions precisely.
Chocolate Meringue Pie
1 baked 9" pie shell
1/2 c. sugar, divided
3 T cornstarch
5 oz. good quality chocolate
2 1/2 c. milk
3 eggs, separated
1 t. vanilla
6 T sugar
Whisk 1/4 c. sugar, cornstarch, chocolate, and milk together in the top of a double boiler over boiling water, stirring constantly till mixture is thickened. Cover and cook a5 mins, stirring occasionally. Beat egg yolks and remaining sugar together. Stir a little of the hot chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, and then stir the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture in the double boiler (this keeps the heat from cooking the eggs and making stringy bits in your custard). Stir for two more minutes and then remove from heat. Cool slightly, stir in vanilla, and pour into pie shell.
Beat egg whites to stiff peaks and then very gradually beat in 6 T sugar. Spread some meringue all the way to the edge of the pie, and then mound remaining meringue onto pie and create swirls. Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes or until peaks of swirls are nicely browned.
Cool this pie away from drafts, and then pack it up (if you don't have a pie basket, put it into a box with newspapers around it) and set it very carefully on the floor of the car. If the car will be full of people, assign the most reliable person to hold the pie, guarding it with his or her life.
If you are single -- male or female -- you can expect marriage proposals once people taste this pie.
