Aunt Mary’s Easy Chess Pie

She’s been gone 21 years now, but I still think about her often.

What a special lady!  Born during the depression, with a cleft pallet and hair lip, her life was full of difficulties and disappointments.  But you hardly ever knew about her hard times.  She was always rejoicing in just being alive.  She lived on disability, but she didn’t let that keep her from sharing with people.  She sent boxes of clothes and other items to missionaries overseas and fed them at her dinner table in her little three room shotgun style house that was full of warmth and love.  Many times she called mom at work and invited her to supper.  Often after dinner she’d get out her auto harp and we’d sing songs there in her small living room.  She was full of joy and would often get happy while we sang.

Everyday she cooked lunch.  That was her main meal of the day.  She made the best iced tea with lemon and the very best cornbread.  I even loved her coleslaw and that is unusual for a kid!  We always had to clean up the kitchen afterwards.  I tried to encourage her to let her dishes airdry, but nothing doing!  We had to towel dry those dishes and put them back into her little upright cabinet.  That same cabinet now resides in my kitchen.  For a while, I could open it up and still smell her kitchen.  That smell is long gone as is Aunt Mary, but she still lives on in my heart.

Aunt Mary’s Chess Pie

4 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
2 Tbsp butter, softened (I used 4 because most other recipes call for a stick)

1 pie shell

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add eggs

one at a time, mixing after each addition.  Pour mixture

into the pie crust.  Bake at 350º for 35-40 minutes.

Cool, slice, and enjoy!