There’s nothing I love more than a good New Mexico family story, except maybe a good New Mexico recipe. Here’s a combination of both!

A couple of months ago, I promised to post my Grandma Ayres’ chocolate pie recipe after the Texas cousins dinner. I just felt compelled to try it before I posted it. Yes, in fact,my cousin Tommy’s version seemed to be perfect (we all wanted to put our heads in the pie pan and lap up the scraps), but sometimes you want to know if the recipe is really as easy as he says

It looks simple, which was the secret to the success of Grandma’s recipes -she raised ten kids in Porter, New Mexico, from 1918 through 1963 when she and Papa sold out and moved to Tucumcari. There were a few things thrown in to make life more difficult – the Dust Bowl, the Depression, three sons off to WWII, those sorts of things. But no one was ever hungry at her house, whether it was 1932 or 1975. Here she is with the love of her life, my Grandpa Ayres. You can’t tell it in this photo, but he had the clearest blue eyes in the world.

Grandma and Grandpa Ayres aka Benjamin Franklin Ayres and Myrtle Mae McDaniel Ayres

The Chocolate Pie recipe is below. If you make two of these, and a red velvet cake, and a German chocolate cake, a pot roast, a ham, five pounds of mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, fresh black-eyed peas, fried okra, sliced cantaloupes from the garden, fried squash, macaroni with tomatoes, and a bowl of cucumbers and onions in vinegar, you’ll get close to approximating Sunday dinner at Grandma’s. Number of servings? About 14 aunts and uncles and 32 cousins.

So, here’s the recipe. My Cousin Tommy is right -it’s very easy -the results will amaze everyone at your next potluck.

Ingredients:

One pre-baked pie shell.

Filling:

3 cups milk

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

2 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until thick (like pudding).

Pour into precooked pie shell. Let set at least a half hour until it cools. I don’t have a great recipe for meringue because I’ve never been successful at making it. So please comment with your own meringue recipe so that we’re not leaving folks hanging!

That’s it!

Good luck and please feel free to share your own New Mexico family stories and recipes here. There’s nothing more satisfying than both of these things.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *