Mom's Chocolate Pie

Directions

Separate 3 eggs. To do this, softly but decisively crack an egg on a hard surface and separate the two halves over a smaller bowl, one egg at a time. Tip the shells to carefully pour the yolk back and forth until the white separates and drips into the small bowl. Then pour the yolk from the shell into a medium size pot (it is OK if a little egg white remains on it). Pour the egg white in a 3rd bowl, to save for meringue, unless it has yolk on it, which will mess up the meringue. Repeat with remaining 2 eggs or more, if mistakes were made...

In the pot with the eggs, combine sugar, cocoa, salt, milk and vanilla.

Place over medium heat and begin cooking. Add 1 tablespoon of the flour at a time while thickening, so mixture does not become too thick.

Only add the butter if the mixture gets too thick (or you just need more butter in your chocolate).

Place filling into baked pie crust. Set aside and prepare meringue topping.

Mix egg whites and sugar. Beat with a mixer or a wire whisk or even a fork, if you do not have the other two, until the meringue mixture thickens. It will be quite white and you can make stiff peaks that hold their shape when the meringue is ready.

Spread the meringue all the way to the edge of the chocolate pie, forming decorative peaks and swirls in the meringue as you spread.

Place on the middle rack in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes until meringue is a little brown on top.

Make-ahead tip: Pie with meringue can be made a day ahead of time, but little brown dots (weeping) may occur in the offensively humid Houston, Texas November weather. To avoid, you can make the pie ahead, adding the meringue the day of serving. Be sure the prepared pie is at room temperature before adding meringue.