A Recipe to Remember

So we planned a quiet Thanksgiving at home today. Following the turmoil and emotion of the last few weeks, we thought that would be best. Just us, Erica & Steve.

But I haven't cooked Thanksgiving dinner on my own for well over 15 years. Oh I'm a decent enough cook. Nobody starves in my house, but I have a VERY limited repetoire and tend to get sick of cooking and eating the same thing all the time. So I thought I'd surprise my family with a new dessert and since my buddy Vicky makes the BEST chocolate pie in the world, (which is my hubby's fave dessert) I asked her for the recipe and she graciously obliged. She told me she got the recipe directly from the chef himself, at the famous Angus Barn in Raliegh. I was SO impressed. Doesn't it look delicious? That's the way Vicky's pie looked... but that is NOT the way MY pie looked!

First of all, while it was cooking, it rose well over 3 inches above the top of the pie pan. It kinda looked like a brown volcano. But I didnt get too alarmed, after all, I never really saw how Vicky's pie looked while it was cooking. This might be normal. Some of the crust broke off and when it cooled, it settled in a lopsided way, but hey- they probably wouldnt even notice, they'd be so busy asking for seconds, right?

But here's the deal, when I cut the first piece, I got a sinking feeling in my gut. First of all, I had to use a steak knife, because it was SO stiff and tough. (I don't remember Vicky having this problem, but maybe it was because my pie was cold from the fridge?) So I piled on the Cool Whip, served my husband the first piece, and waited for the applause. When he acted like he was spitting it into his napkin, I really paid no attention, since this is in his normal range of behavior (anything to get a laugh). I ignored his antics and served up slices for Erica, Steve & I.

Now I generally tell folks that I have yet to see a chocolate dessert that I don't like, but here is the exception my friends! That pie was PUTRID! It would make a great frisbee, but as a dessert, it was unedible! What in the world did I do wrong?

I could tell the kids felt bad for me. Steve gallantly ate his whole slice to prove to me it wasn't that bad, but the fact that he used up half the bowl of Cool Whip in the process, did not escape my notice.

Erica suggested that maybe I left something out of the mix, so we checked the printout from Vicky and sure enough, I followed the recipe I was given. Hmmmm....... So Steve gets the bright idea to check the internet. And that's when we found no less than 15 published recipes for Angus Barn Chocolate Chess Pie ... and every last one of them called for 1 cup of sugar to be added... except for the copy of the recipe I was holding in my hands.

Mystery solved. After we quit laughing about how funny the pie looked and how weird Bubba looked trying to eat it, and how Steve had bravely choked down an entire slice, we called Vicky. She was appropriately horrified and we had fun listening to her reaction. (Luckily Erica had made a delicious pumpkin cheesecake that saved the day!) And look at it this way... we'll be laughing about that pie for years to come. After all, it really isn't the perfect meals we remember most about Thanksgivings, is it? And who knows, maybe the eye-watering, stomach splitting laugh session did me more good than a piece of chocolate pie would have!

So in closing... I still recommend the pie. It's easy, & delicious (when prepared with sugar). But get your recipe from the link above... not from Vicky! hahahaha!