The recipe
A Raisin-Spiced Chess Pie Finished With Meringue
Doris Noble’s Chess Pie is a raisin-and-spice version of the classic name, built with sugar, egg yolks, butter, raisins, cornstarch, cloves and cinnamon. Milk or water brings the filling together before it is cooked in a double boiler until thick.
The filling goes into a baked 9-inch pie shell and is finished with meringue made from the reserved egg whites. It is a distinctly different construction from a plain custard-style chess pie, and that difference is exactly what makes this community-cookbook version memorable.
Why it matters
Why This One Is Worth Bringing Back
Community cookbooks are especially valuable when familiar recipe names turn out not to be standardized. Doris Noble’s Chess Pie is a perfect example: the name survives, but this raisin, spice and meringue version preserves a very particular Jersey County interpretation.
Keeping that version intact matters because it records more than a formula. It preserves one branch of the recipe’s family tree—one that could easily disappear if every archival recipe were normalized to the version readers expect today.
That kind of difference is exactly what a living recipe archive should hold onto.
Explore more recipes and source context in the 75 Years of Caring and Sharing archive.
Modern kitchen notes
If You're Making It Today
These are modern editorial suggestions, not changes to the archived recipe. When a variation comes directly from the original source, we will say so.
Keep the raisins and spices
They are central to this version of Chess Pie, not optional add-ins.
The source leaves the meringue method open
The recipe tells you to use the reserved egg whites for meringue but does not provide a separate meringue formula. Any added meringue technique should be treated as modern editorial guidance, not part of the preserved card.
Use the double boiler as written
The filling is cooked until thick before it goes into the baked shell, so this is not a pour-and-bake custard pie.
Recipe card
The Preserved Recipe
Chess Pie
Ingredients
- 1 c. sugar
- 4 egg yolks use the egg whites in meringue
- 4 Tbsp. butter
- 1 c. raisins
- 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 tsp. cloves
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 c. milk or water
- 1 baked 9 inch pie shell
Instructions
- Cook in a double boiler until thick. Pour into baked pie shell and cover with meringue. Makes 1 (9 inch) pie.
Give Something Back
Help preserve the community behind the cookbook.
This recipe traces back to a Jersey County community cookbook created in the spirit of sharing, service and local connection. If you’d like to carry that spirit forward, consider supporting the Jersey County Historical Society and its work preserving local history for future generations.
Support Jersey County History →
Nostalgic Foodie is not affiliated with the Jersey County Historical Society and does not receive any portion of donations.
From the archive
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