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This Old Fashioned Chocolate Meringue Pie has a rich chocolate filling topped with soft meringue inside a pastry crust. This recipe came from my Grandma Zola.
Today’s recipe is an old family recipe for Chocolate Meringue Pie. It actually belonged to my grandmother and I am lucky enough to have the recipe written in her own handwriting!
Pie is one of my favorite desserts. There are a lot of pie recipes I love, but I think there is nothing quite like a homemade chocolate pie. Add a topping of meringue and you’ve just about got perfection.
Chocolate Pie Ingredients
- Sugar
- Cocoa Powder. Use a baking cocoa
- Chocolate Chips, I use semi sweet chocolate chips
- Cornstarch
- Salt
- Egg Yolks
- Milk. Whole milk
- Vanilla
- Pie Crust
What Kind of Pie Crust Do I Use?
This recipe calls for a pre-baked pie crust. You can use a frozen pie crust and just bake it according to the directions on the package. You can also make one from scratch and use my Perfect Pie Crust Recipe. Bake the crust at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
How to Make Chocolate Meringue Pie
- Mix together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt in a medium size sauce pan.
- Add in milk and bring mixture to a boil. Boil for 1 minute.
- Whisk egg yolks together in a small bowl.
- Add small amount of hot milk mixture into eggs, stirring as you add. You do not want to cook the eggs.
- Pour egg/milk mixture into saucepan with remaining milk mixture.
- Over medium heat, stir constantly for about 3 minutes or until thickened.
- Remove from heat and add in vanilla, chocolate chips and butter and stir until melted.
- Pour mixture into baked pie crust. Add meringue layer while filling is still hot.
Meringue Ingredients
- Egg Whites. These are leftover from the pie filling, make sure there is no yolk in the whites!
- Sugar
- Salt
- Vanilla
How to Make Meringue for Pie
- Beat egg whites and pinch of salt until stiff peaks form with an electric mixer.
- Slowly add in the sugar and vanilla.
- Spoon meringue over the top of the hot filling. Be sure meringue covers the entire surface and is sealed around the edges. No filling should show!
Tips for perfect meringue
- Make sure all your equipment is cleaner, especially your beaters and bowl.
- Don’t allow any egg yolk to get into your egg whites.
- Room temperature eggs whip up fluffier and lighter.
Important Tip!!
The trick here is you want to make sure that the meringue is totally sealed around the edges of the pie crust, no holes or filling peeking out!
How to Bake A Meringue Pie
- Put the pie in the oven for 15 minutes or so until the meringue is nice and golden brown. Watch it closely.,
- Allow pie to cool for several hours before slicing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Prevent Meringue Pie from Weeping
“Weeping” is when the meringue separates from the filling and liquid forms between the two layers.
To prevent this from happening, put the meringue onto the filling while it is still hot. The heat from the filling helps to cook the meringue on the bottom which prevents it from shrinking and weeping.
How Do I Store Meringue Pie?
Allow the pie to cool completely and then refrigerate. Chill for 3-5 hours before serving. You do not need to cover it unless it will be in the refrigerator longer.
To store the pie longer, insert toothpicks into the meringue and loosely drape plastic wrap over the tops of the toothpicks, don’t let the plastic wrap touch the meringue.
You can refrigerate for up to 2 days.
Can I Freeze a Chocolate Meringue Pie?
Cream or meringue topped pies do not freeze well and the crust becomes soggy if frozen.
Why do little beads of water form on my meringue?
This happens if the meringue is over baked. Overbaking causes the meringue to shrink which releases little beads of liquid.
Tips
- The secret to cutting meringue is to dip your knive in warm water first. This will prevent the meringue from sticking to the knife.
- Before making meringue, check the weather! Try and make your chocolate meringue pie on a clear, dry day. A rainy or humid day can effect the success of your meringue.
Check out more of my meringue recipes:
Chocolate Meringue Pie
Ingredients
- 9 inch pre baked pie crust
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 Tbsp cocoa heaping Tbsp
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
- pinch salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Meringue
- 4 egg whites
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- few drops of vanilla
Instructions
- Mix sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt together in a pan.
- Add in milk. Bring mixture to a boil and boil for 1 minute.
- Beat egg yolks together in a bowl.
- Add small amount of hot milk mixture into eggs, stirring as you add. You do not want to cook the eggs.
- Pour egg/milk mixture into pan with remaining milk mixture.
- Over medium heat, stir constantly for about 3 minutes or until thickened.
- Remove from heat and add in vanilla, chocolate chips and butter and stir until melted.
- Pour mixture into baked pie crust. Add meringue layer while filling is still hot.
Meringue
- Beat 4 egg whites, pinch of salt and cream of tartar until stiff.
- Add sugar and few drops of vanilla.
- Spread on top of warm pie and bake at 325 degrees F for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Be sure to seal meringue to edge of pie crust so no air can get in.
- Allow pie to cool and set up before serving.
Tips & Notes:
Recommended Products
Nutrition Facts:
Nicky @ Pink Recipe Box says
this pie looks truly incredible! Love how you still have the original recipe card and photo. Pinning 🙂
Stefani says
How wonderful that you have your grandmother’s recipe card! This recipe is identical to the one my mom & grandmother used…it is by far my favorite dessert for Thanksgiving & Christmas. 🙂 Thanks so much for posting this – now I can have it pinned! 🙂
Cami Reschke says
I love the recipe and picture! I really treasure the recipes I have that are written by my aunts, grandmas, etc. I especially love that there’s a bit of chocolate smudge on the page! That’s a sign of a good recipe! 🙂
Shirley says
Leigh Ann as I was reading your post this morning my heart almost jumped out of my chest when I came to phrase “Grandma Zola’s Chocolate Pie.” My Momma’s name was Zola and it is not a name you hear often and the grandchildren all referred to her as Grandma Zola. So I could not wait to scroll down to see her picture. I couldn’t believe it when I saw her picture in her kitchen as I have almost the exact picture of my Mom is her kitchen but she is making her famous Enchiladas. I hope you don’t mind but I am pasting her picture in this comment. The grandchildren’s favorite Grandma Zola recipe was her chocolate gravy. I will never forget the time I called her to get her recipe and she told me I don’t have one I just make it so hold on and I will go make a batch and you can write down the recipe. So she went in the kitchen and made a batch of chocolate gravy so I could have the recipe. I would love to talk with her and get her chocolate pie recipe but she is now cooking in heaven. Thanks for giving me this beautiful reminder of my Mom today.
System won’t let me insert her picture but it will be on my blog today.
Leigh Anne says
How fun that you have a Grandma Zola too in your family!! Those photos and recipes are precious reminders of the people we love. Would love to see the photo of your Grandma Zola
Shirley says
The photo is on my blog today.
Laurie says
Leigh Anne, Great post today with beautiful photos as usual. It’s true that even a small, handwritten recipe card can bring a flood of memories. I think our grandmother’s took the same handwriting class as my inherited recipe cards look so similar to yours! Can’t wait to try your chocolate pie recipe this weekend.
Leigh Anne says
It was back in the days when penmanship really mattered! Now we all just scribble (myself included!!) Hope you enjoy the pie.