Warning: Once you’ve made this old fashioned chocolate pie recipe from scratch, there’ll be no going back to store-bought or instant pie fillings! Sometimes you’ll make it just for yourself! It’s velvety, smooth, and decadently delicious. Get the best old fashioned chocolate pie recipe and see why it’s a favorite of all who make it!
The History of My Old fashioned chocolate pie recipe
This is another recipe from my great-grandmother, Ma Horton. My Aunt Helen gave me the recipe and taught me to make it when I was a young mother. Let’s just say that was eons ago!
When we first met, my husband said he didn’t like chocolate pies. I persuaded him to try this old fashion homemade chocolate pie recipe and today he still says of all the chocolate pie recipes, he will only eat this one.
I can remember family reunions and dinners on the ground when everybody wanted a piece of this pie. For those who aren’t familiar with the term “dinner on the ground,” it’s what we used to call the lunch shared at the celebration of a church’s anniversary, called a homecoming.
We took quilts to spread on the ground, sometimes a few of the older grownups would have a folding chair and ate “dinner on the ground”. Each family brought enough food for itself plus extra for others.
All the food was placed on boards laid out between trees, sawhorses, and an occasional table, and you went around fixing your plate with whatever you wanted.
You better get your dessert on the first go-around, or it would be gone. Especially Ma Horton’s chocolate pie recipe made with rich cocoa powder in a golden brown homemade pie crust.
Some people called it the “French silk pie of heaven.” I knew it as her old-fashioned chocolate meringue pie that I loved to eat.
When my great-grandmother was no longer able to cook for these kinds of functions, my grandmother and my Aunt Helen took up the mantle. My Aunt Helen earned the title, “Queen of Chocolate Pie.”
It’s no wonder this recipe for old fashioned chocolate pie from scratch is one of my family’s most requested for birthdays, holidays, and anytime we need comfort food. Your family will love it too!
FAQ About My Chocolate Pie Recipe
1. Why Don’t My Grandmother’s Recipes Taste The Same When I Follow Them Exactly?
You must remember, that the ingredients most of our grandmothers used were different than they are today. It took me a long time to figure out this problem with my great-grandmother’s and Granny’s recipes.
Their flour was often home-ground or fresh from the local mill. There were no GMOs, pesticides, or herbicides in the food chain like there are today.
They used fresh raw ingredients, yard eggs fresh from their hens, salt that was unrefined (real salt), and unpasteurized raw whole A2A2 milk.
I have found that by using organic, non-Gmo ingredients, you can get pretty close to the way theirs was.
I know not everyone can have yard eggs or raw milk in the fridge. You will have to do the best you can with what you have access to. You’ll still get a delicious pie that will be one of your family’s favorite dessert recipes.
2. Should an old fashioned chocolate pie be refrigerated?
Let your pie cool on the counter at room temperature until the pan is no longer hot. If you put a hot pie plate in the fridge, it may crack, and you’ll lose the pie.
Also, putting a hot pie in the fridge will cause excess condensation to form on the top and bottom of the pie causing a soggy bottom.
Once the pie plate is no longer hot to the touch, you can refrigerate it. You should refrigerate any leftovers if there is such a thing!
3. Why does my homemade chocolate pie get watery?
If your pie is topped with a meringue, this is probably the issue. To avoid a weeping meringue, try these tips:
Don’t overbake the meringue. When you overbake a meringue, the egg whites shrink, squeezing small moisture droplets from them.
Check the meringue at the minimum baking time. If it’s not done to your liking, check it every 30 seconds because it will quickly overbake or burn.
Make sure the sugar in your egg whites is completely dissolved when mixing. Mix the sugar and egg whites at low speed until the mixture has lost its graininess. Then you can turn up the mixer too high and whip up those peaks of perfection. I suggest using caster sugar or superfine granular sugar.
Prepare the meringue before you start the pie crust and pie filling. This ensures it has had plenty of time to chill. When you add it to the hot pie filling, it will spread easier and be less likely to shrink when you cook it.
When you spread the meringue on your pie filling, make sure you take it all the way to the edge and seal it by spreading it onto the crust where they touch.
4. Do You Make this old fashioned chocolate pie recipe with cocoa Powder?
I personally use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder. You can use them interchangeably so use the one you want to. They both come from the cacao bean.
The difference between Cacao and Cocoa is in their processing.
Cacao is made from fermented cacao beans processed at low temperatures, so it retains most of the beneficial nutrients, enzymes, and minerals found in the raw bean. It’s slightly more bitter than cocoa.
Cocoa is made from fermented cacao processed at high temperatures, so it loses pretty much all the nutrient values. Most cocoa is sold with sugar added to it to avoid the bitter taste so check the label to avoid excess sugar.
Ma Horton’s Old-Fashioned Chocolate Pie Recipe
Prepare and bake the pie crust you want and set it out to cool. I make Einkorn pie crust.
Once you begin cooking the filling, you cannot leave the stove for any reason. It will scorch and pop bubbles that will scald you if you leave it.
Ingredients For Pie Filling
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 1/2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt – I use real salt
- 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder or cacao powder
- 3 eggs
- 10 ounces heavy whipping cream
- 6 ounces milk – I use A2A2 whole milk
- 4 ounces of water
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2-3 teaspoons vanilla extract flavoring to taste
Ingredients For Fluffy Meringue
- Egg whites (separated from yolks used in the pie filling)
- 5 Tbs fine grain sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Ingredients For Whipped Cream Topping: Yields 2 1/3 cups of whipped topping
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 Tbs fine grain sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions For Pie Filling
- Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
- Separate three eggs and put the egg yolks in a medium saucepan.
- If you want to make meringue for your pie instead of whipped cream, put the egg whites in the mixing bowl you’ll use to make your meringue and refrigerate them. (I make my meringue first and refrigerate it while I’m preparing the filling.)
- Whisk the egg yolks together in the saucepan, then add the liquid ingredients to the saucepan.
- Whisk these ingredients together well.
- Cook over medium-high heat on the stovetop while using a long-handled wooden spoon to stir constantly until begins to boil.
- Once the mixture reaches a low boil, add the dry ingredients to the pot. I whisk them to mix well and then go back to stirring with the wooden spoon.
- Add the butter and continue to stir continuously.
- Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat until desired thickness is reached. It needs to be thick like pudding.
- When the filling is thickened, remove from heat and add 2-3 teaspoons of vanilla (I use 3 because we like vanilla)
- Pour the filling into your prepared pie crust.
- Let cool on the counter until the pie plate is not hot to the touch.
- Then Cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on top of the pie while cooling.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
NOTE: If you want a meringue, add it to your pie before you refrigerate.
Instructions To make the meringue recipe
- Whip the egg whites in a large bowl on high speed of an electric mixer using your whisk attachment until fluffy.
- Reduce speed to low and slowly add the sugar one tablespoon at a time until all 3 Tablespoons are added.
- Beat on low until the sugar is fully incorporated into the eggs (the graininess will be gone).
- Return the mixer to the highest speed and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
- Spread the meringue over the freshly cooked pie and brown under your broiler. Remember to watch it carefully, the meringue will brown and burn before you know it.
My family prefers homemade whipped cream on their pie.
Instructions To make sweetened whipped cream
- Put 1 cup of heavy whipping cream into a chilled bowl.
- Using the whisk attachment on your mixer, whip at the highest speed of your electric mixer until the cream begins to stiffen.
- Gradually add 3 Tablespoons of sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.
- Store in refrigerator until ready to use. I put mine in a glass jar or bowl with a tight-fitting lid.
You can make the whipped cream any flavor you like. For this old fashion chocolate pie recipe, we like vanilla flavoring. To flavor, after you’ve added the sugar, add 1 teaspoon of flavoring to heavy whipping cream, and beat as directed above.
Notes for My homemade chocolate pie recipe
If you don’t have the time to make the homemade flour crust you can make a graham cracker crust in your pie pan or use a store-bought prepared crust to pour the hot filling into to make your own old-fashioned chocolate cream pie.
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Pie Recipe
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Print Pin- A deep dish pie crust, baked. - You can use a shallow crust but it will be very full
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 ½ Tbs all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp real salt
- 4 Tbs cocoa powder or cacao powder
- 3 egg yolks
- 10 oz heavy whipping cream
- 6 oz milk
- 4 oz water
- 1 ½ Tbs unsalted butter
- 2-3 tsp Vanilla flavoring
- 3 Egg whites (separated from yolks used in the pie filling)
- 5 TBS fine grain sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 3 TBS Fine grain sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
- Separate three eggs and put the egg yolks in a medium saucepan. If you want to make meringue for your pie instead of whipped cream, put the egg whites in the mixing bowl you’ll use to make your meringue.
- Whisk the egg yolks together in the saucepan, then add the liquid ingredients to the saucepan.
- Whisk these ingredients together well.
- Cook over medium heat while using a long-handled wooden spoon to stir constantly until begins to boil.
- Once the mixture reaches a low boil, add the dry ingredients to the pot. I whisk them to mix well and then go back to stirring with the wooden spoon.
- Add the butter and continue to stir continuously.
- Cook for 5 minutes or until desired thickness is reached. It needs to be thick like pudding.
- When the filling is thickened, remove from heat and add 2-3 teaspoons of vanilla (I use 3 because we like vanilla)
- Pour the filling into your prepared pie crust.If you are going to top with meringue, do that now.Once the meringue is cooked, let the pie cool on a cooling rack until the pie plate is not hot to the touch.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
- If you are going to top with whipped cream:Cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on top of the pie while cooling.Let the pie cool on a cooling rack until the pie plate is not hot to the touch. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving
- Whip the three egg whites on high-speed of an electric mixer using your whisk attachment until fluffy.
- Reduce speed to low and slowly add the sugar one tablespoon at a time until all 3 Tablespoons are added.
- Beat on low until the sugar is fully incorporated into the eggs (the graininess will be gone).
- Return mixer to highest speed and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
- Spread the meringue over the freshly cooked pie and brown under your broiler. Remember to watch it carefully, meringue will brown and burn before you know it.
- Put 1 cup heavy whipping cream into a chilled bowl.
- Using the whisk attachment, whip at the highest speed of your electric mixer until the cream begins to stiffen.
- Gradually add 3 Tablespoons granulated or powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.
- Store in refrigerator until ready to use. I put mine in a glass jar or bowl with a tight fitting lid.
- You can make the whipped cream any flavor you like. For chocolate pie, we like vanilla flavoring. To flavor, just add 1 teaspoon flavoring to heavy whipping cream, after you’ve added the sugar, and beat as directed above.
Nutrition
Wrap Up
I can’t wait to hear how you like the pie. This old fashioned chocolate pie recipe is one of my favorite things to make. Will you make meringue or whipped cream? Do you have a family secret for meringue or whipped cream?
As always, I’m here to help.
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I haven’t tried this yet, but am going to quite soon. I have 3 questions that I am not sure you may know.
1. Can I add marshmallows and/or bananas to the filling? If so are there any moisture adjustments that need to be made? Please let me know in cups or spoonfuls instead of ounces!
2. Is it possible to use a sugar substitute? My husband will absolutely love this pie, but I am a diabetic.
3. Can I make my own pie crust? Any suggestions?
Thank you so much for this recipe and your suggestions!
Hi Teri, I hope I can help. Q1) I’m sure you can add these things, however, I have never done it so I can’t give you adjustments to make. My educated guess would be little to no adjustments because the additions will set in the pudding as it thickens and both have a degree of moisture themselves. But it’s just a guess. Please let us know what you did and how it turns out if you try it. Q2) You can certainly use a sugar substitute. Again, I don’t have any experience with them but since you use them already you will know the conversion rate of sugar to substitute. Q3) I always make my own pie crusts. There’s a link in the article for pie crust and for Einkorn pie Crust. Here’s the link to the modern wheat all-purpose flour pie crust. Let me know if I can help further.
I need to make three pies for a luncheon. Can I cook all three pie fillings together at the same time or do I need to make each pie separately?
Hi Kathleen, I have doubled the recipe and it worked great but I have never trippled it. In theory it should be just fine. If it were me, I’d try it. Let me know how it turns out. I’m here to help.
This is my new chocolate pie recipe. My husband went nuts for this! Thank you so much for sharing~~
Thanks, Regina, for letting me know y’all enjoyed the recipe! I’m so glad to know it was a hit for your family.
My grandchildren and I made this a few weeks ago, it was so good. They actually made the pie and followed the recipe, 12-15 years old. They want to make it for Thanksgiving. I’m wondering how many days ahead we can make it? We didn’t have any leftover.
Gail, I’m delighted to know you and your grandchildren enjoyed the pie. I’m honored to know they have added my great-grandmother’s recipe to their skill base. She would be honored as well. Thank you for sharing this with me, it fills my heart with thanksgiving. Now for your question, I would recommend no more than two days in advance. Be sure to cover it well and that the plastic wrap is in contact with the pie filling to keep hard skin from forming on it. If you want to make meringue for the pie, don’t make it ahead of time. It will weep and put liquid onto the pie so make it the morning of or the night before you plan to serve it. If you have further questions, need clarification, or anything else, please feel free to contact me. Let me know how it turns out. Happy Holidays!
Can you freeze this pie without the topping? I’m wanting to make it ahead of time for Thanksgiving, and add the topping then.
Juli, I’ve tried to freeze the pie. It can be made a couple of days before the day. I’m not sure what the texture would be after thawing.If you try it, please let us know how it turns out.
How can I get my whipped cream thicker ? I did it exactly as the instructions ?
Hi Carol, My tips would be: 1) be certain you’re using heavy whipping cream. 2) make sure it is cold before you begin whipping it 3) Chill the bowl or jar you are whipping it in. 4) Don’t use plastic containers or utensils. 5) It may take longer for your mixer to whip the cream to thickness so whip it until it gets thick. 6) Stop whipping once it’s thick. These are my best tips. Please feel free to reach out any time you need me. I hope these help.
Made it again today. My husband loves this pie! I just shared it with my daughter and sister. Made it exactly by your recipe. Thank you for this great pie!
Cathy, I’m delighted that you and your family love the pie! Thank you so much for sharing with me and for being a part of TFL Community.
exactly my grandmothers recipe except all whole no whipping cream this is favorite pie in my family even over fresh from the farm peach
So I’m a little confused the heavy whipping cream is for the pie and not the topping. If you use whole milk do you exclude whipping cream, and water?
Paula, The list of ingredients is for the pie filling. The ingredients for the meringue topping and whipped topping are listed under their headings. The pie filling itself calls for 10 oz of heavy whipping cream. You can substitute whole milk for the heavy whipping cream but the total amount of liquids must be the same: 16 oz whole milk and 4 oz of water. Your pie filling will have to cook longer in order to thicken if you use all whole milk and water. Also, the flavor will not be as rich and smooth when you use only whole milk but it is still delicious. I’ve done this myself when I didn’t have heavy whipping cream but wanted a chocolate pie. I do hope this clears up the confusion for you. If not, or if you have any other questions, please feel free to reach back out. After all, I’m here to help!
This pie looks and sounds absolutely divine!!! I do have a question. The instructions are to add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients when the wet ingredients reach a boil. I’ve always been taught that the dry ingredients should be whisked into the wet ingredients before heating, because the dry ingredients will clump if added to hot liquid ingredients. Which do I do, add dry to hot liquid, or add dry to wet before heating?
Hi Abby, When cooking a pie filling, just like cooking a pudding, you add the dry ingredients to the hot. Whisking them into the hot liquid ensures any clumps will be dissolved. If you follow the recipe, the pie will be velvety smooth. I like your word “divine”, it is actually. Let me know if you have any further questions or if I can help in any way.
My experience as well. I whisked all ingredients together, except butter, cocoa, vanilla. This filling is delicious. I used Sacco Dutch process cocoa and got the perfect chocolate flavor. I did have to boil longer than 5 minutes to get it to the correct thickness. I cooled my chocolate before I poured into a pre-baked cooled crust. Topped with the egg white topping and used heavy cream, milk and water as directed in the pudding.
Thanks, Dixie, for sharing your experience and tweaks with us. I love it when people enjoy the recipe and make it their own!
I didn’t have any eggs so I used an egg substitute. It took a long time for it to get thick and after about 20 min of no change I added a corn starch slurry to help thicken it up. That worked. Looks good in the pie shells and will firm up nicely once cooled. Hope it tastes the same
Keena, Thanks so much for sharing this with us! I’ve never used egg substitute so I didn’t know how it would turn out. I hope it turned out to taste as good as it looked to you. We appreciate you being a part of TFL Community and for sharing your experience with us!
Do you use the heavy whipping cream in the filling mixture or just the homemade whip topping? I just want to make sure I’m using it in the right place.
Barbara, It is used for both. The recipe calls for 10 oz in the pie filling. Hope this answers your question. Enjoy! Let me know if I can help further.
Can you use an egg substitute
Theresa, I have never tried an egg substitute. As long as it’s in liquid form I would say it SHOULD be ok, but I can’t promise the same results. If you try it, please come back and let us know how it turns out and what you used.
Are you adding the filling to an already cooked pie shell?
Kerri, Yes, a 9” deep dish pie crust, baked. You can use a shallow crust but it will be very full. I talked about that in the post recipe but neglected to put it in the recipe box. Thank you for asking. I’ll add it to the box. I hope you love it as much as we do. I made one yesterday at the request of my eldest son who is coming over today.
Turned out perfect. Delicious. Thank you for sharing with us.
Letha, You are so welcome! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the pie as much as we do. Thank you for letting me know.
Does this pie have a creamy texture or more of a gelatin texture?
Madison, This pie is velvety smooth and silky. There is no gelatin in the recipe. I hope this answers your question. Let me know if I can help in any way.
I love this recipe! I even add 2 tbs of instant dark roast coffee to give it a kick!
Amanda, I’m happy you loved Ma Horton’s chocolate pie recipe. As a coffee lover, you know I’m going to have to try adding it to my next pie! Thanks for the idea. So glad you’re a part of TFL Community.
This is exactly how my neighbor taught me when I had to make a pie for home economics many,many years ago! Only way I make it!!
I love chocolate pie with a homemade crust and whipped cream. And a tall glass of cold milk! Pinning so I can try this later, thanks for sharing your family recipe. That makes it even more special!
Thanks so much, Jennifer. I did warn you, once you make it…you’ll always make it 🙂 I hope your family likes it as much as mine does. Let me know how it turns out for you. Thanks for stopping by and sharing with me.