Chess Pie

Traditionally associated with the American South (and Virginia in particular), the sweet chess pie consists of a thin pastry crust that is topped with a mixture of eggs, butter, vanilla, cornmeal, and various sweeteners. When baked, the filling turns into a thick, velvety custard, which is best complemented with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream. Among numerous theories of the origin and the name of chess pies, the most reasonable one says that it evolved from the British cheese pie, a term formerly used to denote various pies with similar fillings as this Southern classic.