Filling ingredients:

1 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of cornstarch
¼ teaspoon of salt
2 cups of milk
3 egg yolks, beaten slightly
2 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 tablespoons of cocoa or 2 (1 oz) squares of baking chocolate

Meringue ingredients: (I hate meringue – I scrape it off – ew)
2 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of sugar

Pie Crust
1 ¼ cups crumb’s (grahams)
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter (Parkay)

Method:
Graham Cracker Crust:
Melt butter; add to crumbs and sugar. Stir. Press into pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Or Mine:

Surefire Pie Dough (makes 1 double crust)
4 oz (1 stick) Parkay margarine or butter
1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons ice cold water
NO SALT

Cut butter into flour until like course cornmeal. Add water then lightly mix into a ball. Do not overwork the dough. Roll ball out onto floured cutting board until 1/4 inch thick. Fold into 1/4’s and lay into pie pan, crimp edges and cut off excess.

Preheat oven to 450F. Pierce bottom and side of pie crust lightly with fork. Bake 5 to 7 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool slightly.

Filling:
In a saucepan, combine your sugar, cornstarch, salt. Gradually add milk, cocoa/chocolate with a whisk. Cook while stirring over medium heat until it boils; cook 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. In the measuring cup that you beat your eggs, stir in about ½ cup hot batter as quickly as possible as not to cook the eggs. Then beat that mixture in to pot along with vanilla and butter.

Pour the chocolate custard into the pre-baked pie shell and top with the meringue (beaten egg whites).

Meringue:
Add 2 T of sugar for every egg white. Make sure the bowl is cold and whisk is very clean. Any grease will cause the whites to go flat. Spread over custard and with the back of your spoon; pull up on the meringue to form little tips/peaks. Bake it until it the peaks on the meringue are lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

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Enjoy! I know that’s a lot of work just to scrap it off, but my mom loved meringue, as do others, so I add it… it can’t all be about me. LOL

True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. ~ GEORGE WASHINGTON