Buttermilk Chess Pie

As Rose Levy Beranbaum says, "There are two kinds of people: cake people and pie people."

I am a cake person. My husband has a long standing joke that he only likes two kinds of pies: hot and cold. He is a pie person.

I recently resolved to bake more pies, and flipping through the pages of my book of choice, I remembered something I hadn't thought of for a long time. When I was living in Florida and my grandmother was getting old, I frequently took her to the Piccadilly Cafeteria, which seemed to make her very happy. As we'd go down the buffet line, there were certain things she clearly wanted, but would only get if I would get them too. Hoping to entice her to eat heartily, I'd be enthusiastic and agree to things I didn't really want. Like chess pie. Every. Single. Time.

Tonight's pie is for my husband, but it's in honor of my mammy, who always had a jar of brandied fruit on the counter-top, made the greatest chocolate pound cakes, and taught me when to flip a pancake.

Buttermilk Chess Pie, The Pie & Pastry Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum