Like so many of my favorite recipes, this one comes from an old book of clippings collected by mother and grandmother. I don’t recall either of them ever making this pie, but they both loved anything with meringue and nuts (like the Luby’s Butternut Brownie Pie) so it makes sense they’d save this one. It’s called Chocolate Angel Pie, and it’s similar to French Silk Pie, but a bit lighter and with more varied textures.
The crust is what makes this pie special. It’s a flaky sweet meringue flecked with toasted nuts. This particular recipe is for an 8 inch pie pan and calls for 2 egg whites. If you can’t find a small enough pie pan you can just double the crust and use as much as you need to cover the sides.
Here’s a picture of what the meringue crust (which is more of a nest) looked like before I put it in the oven. I didn’t double or scale up the recipe at all and a small disposable pie pan worked fine.
The recipe is pretty easy, and you can mix and match the nuts and chocolate. This original calls for German’s Sweet Chocolate, which is still readily available and usually purchased for German Chocolate Cake. Trader Joe’s Dark works just fine. The recipe also calls for either 1 cup of cream, whipped or 1 cup of non-dairy whipped topping. That’s a little confusing because 1 cup of heavy cream whips into about 2 cups of whipped cream which would be more than 1 cup of already whipped topping. In the end, I don’t think it matters much. I whipped a full 8 oz carton of cream, added 2 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar and folded it in with the chocolate.
Next time I make this I’m going to skip the pie pan and just make round nests of meringue on parchment, then put a big dollop of filling in the center of each and garnish with more cream and berries.
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup toasted pecans (or walnuts) -- or leave them out
- 4 oz chopped German's Sweet or semisweet or dark chocolate ( I used TJ's Dark)
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
- Garnish: Extra sweetened whipped cream or fresh fruit or chocolate syrup
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch pie tin. The smallest I could find was a disposable aluminum tin which worked perfectly.
- In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until foamy. With the mixer going, gradually add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Beat in the vanilla, then fold in the pecans or whatever nut you are using.
- Spread the meringue mixture over the pie plate and up the edges, building up the sides the best you can. Set it on a baking sheet and bake at 300 for about 50 minutes.
- When meringue shell is ready, prepare the filling. Combine the chopped chocolate and water in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 30 seconds. Stir well and repeat until mixture is creamy and smooth. Allow the chocolate to cool.
- Whip the 1 cup of heavy cream and beat in the sugar and vanilla. Fold the chocolate in with the cream.
- Spread the chocolate mixture in the meringue shell. Chill for two hours.
- Top with sweetened whipped cream or chocolate syrup if desired.
Looks DELICIOUS!!!! I LOVE the “old” tried and true recipes!!
I think I remember something like this. I’m going to look through old recipes and see if I’m remembering correctly.
I love your idea of skipping the pie pan and making it on top of parchment paper.
I think it would be great without nuts. If you wanted to add texture, you could use chopped up graham crackers instead.
This sounds wonderful! Do you think the meringue crust would be okay without nuts? We’re just not nut fans (no allergies).
Fun to make a vintage recipe!