French Silk Pie Recipe

It was my birthday recently, and the chard recipe I was going to write about today was a bust. So no baby recipes today-- instead, I bring you my favorite favorite pie (decidedly not infant-friendly, except perhaps with respect to its fat content).

My mom made me cakes when I was a kid, but occasionally (very occasionally) she also made this pie. One year she asked what kind of cake I wanted, and upon reflection, I said, "You know, that pie was really good. Cake is good, but that pie is better."  And I've had French Silk Pie on my birthday ever since. 

No candles, for the following reason: the recipe seldom came out just right for her. She was cooking it in unusual conditions for the first few years (long story short, we lived on a sailboat and the refrigeration system wasn't what it could have been).  And she always did it with a hand mixer (the only kind we had). It consistently came out a bit runny. Every now and again it would almost set up right, just often enough to lend support to our assumption that it was something about how she was doing it that was causing the problem. Nowadays, Mae's Dad makes it for me-- he fixed the recipe (the proportions were just off a bit), and it sets up perfectly every time.  Of course, if I'm lucky enough to spend my birthday with my mom, she makes it her way, and I enjoy licking the runny filling off the plate. Something about that just seems right. :)

Here's the (corrected) version:

 French Silk Pie

3/4 c. sugar
1/4 lb butter, softened
2 eggs (we used the pasteurized egg stuff in a carton and it works beautifully)
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled a bit
3/4 tsp vanilla

Add eggs to sugar one at a time. Beat 5 minutes after each.  Add the melted chocolate and beat for 5 minutes. Add the vanilla. Turn it out into a baked pie crust and refrigerate a few hours until it's set.