Pumpkin-Lemon Cream Cheese Chess Pie
Chess-like pies date back to colonial days and are as varied as the maker, but all share a rich mix of butter, sugar, and eggs. Some are thickened with cornmeal, others with flour. Buttermilk, cider vinegar, or citrus mellows the high-voltage sweetness. Some claim its name is a Southern corruption of the archaic British “cheese” pie; others speculate they were kept in a ventilated pie “chest.” Some say that it’s “jes’ pie,” made with ingredients that cooks had on hand. Our dreamy pumpkin version is marbled with citrus-flavored cream cheese.