Happy, happy holidays, friends. I have something for you:

The absolutely, you-betcha, for-real Seessel’s Chocolate Butter Pie recipe. You don’t have to wonder how close it is to the original because this is the real deal.

And this is just the beginning. The vault is open!

Recipe Exchange: Jimmy Gentry’s Butter Cakes

In the 20-plus years I’ve written about food, no recipes have been requested as often as those from Seessel’s, the local grocery stores we all loved and still miss.

I’ll tell you the whole story later, but Art Seessel and I talked shortly after The Daily Memphian launched in 2018. I knew I — and that means you, too — wanted those Seessel’s recipes. It turned out that he had them all and wanted to share them, but there’s more to it — and we’ll get to all that later.

The upshot is this: The recipes are available.

Now, it takes a bit of work to take a recipe for hundreds of pies and reduce it to one, but luckily, Seessel’s head baker John Barnard is just up the road in St. Louis and has been available every step of this journey.

Recipe Exchange: Best Carrot Cake

There’s not, as far as I know, a missing recipe. That means anything is on the table (ha!), but before anything goes to print, it’s being tested again and again. Art and Janet Seessel are cooking in their kitchen; I’ve cooked with them and in my kitchen; Barnard is busy in his in St. Louis.

We’re trying out different ovens, making sure the directions are clear and, most of all, making sure what you get tastes like what you remember.

Call these recipes Art-approved.

The chocolate butter pie was immensely popular, so we knew it was a safe bet to start with it.

Recipe Exchange: Two festive punches for the holidays

The question now is: What else do you want? Really, all you have to do is ask (email me or drop a note in the comments below) and then exercise some patience. We’d like to start working on your requests right away, and when we get enough together, we’ll start sharing them regularly. 

Meanwhile, bake! Let us know how the pie turns out for you, and feel free to share photos with me at jbiggs@dailymemphian.com. We’d love to see them.

Seessel’s Chocolate Butter Pie

Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon fine salt (see notes)
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk powder
6 squares Ghirardelli 100% cacao unsweetened chocolate bar (see notes)
1 stick unsalted butter 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons hot water
2 large eggs
Pie crust pastry, store-bought, or use pie crust recipe that follows

Directions

Blend the sugar, cornstarch, salt and dry milk powder; set aside.

Break chocolate bar in pieces as marked, put in bowl with butter and melt in microwave on butter or chocolate setting if your microwave has them. Otherwise, use power setting 2 or 3 and microwave two to four minutes until melted. Stir well.

Recipe Exchange: Alice’s Kahlua Pecan Pie

Blend vanilla, sweetened condensed milk and hot water. Microwave to 160 degrees (use an instant-read thermometer), about 30-60 seconds.

Mix eggs, but don’t whip. Add sweetened condensed milk mixture to eggs. Add chocolate; blend, then add to dry ingredients and mix on low speed until fully blended. 

Place pie crust in a 9-inch pan and pour in mix.

Bake at 360 degrees for 30-45 minutes, depending on your oven. The pie will start to form a thin chocolate film on top. Check doneness by inserting a toothpick in center of pie. If it pulls out clean, the pie is baked. If it’s wet, bake a little longer. 

Notes: The recipe is accurate as printed, but here are two tips. Jennifer Biggs uses about half the amount of salt, and Art Seessel thinks that five squares of chocolate is sufficient. These are taste preferences and won’t affect the integrity of the pie. Makes one 9-inch pie.

Source: Seessel’s family files

Recipe Exchange: School Cafeteria Butter Cookies

Seessel’s Pie Dough

Ingredients
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour 
11 tablespoons unsalted butter 
½ teaspoon baking powder 
½ teaspoon salt 
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon nonfat dry milk powder 
½ teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 medium whole egg 

Directions  
Mix flour and butter together until it forms pea-size balls.

Mix baking powder, salt, powdered sugar and milk powder.

Mix vanilla and eggs, then add everything together and mix only until dough comes together in one mass and sides of bowl are clean.

Recipe Exchange: Fino’s Tiramisu

Roll out pie dough into a circle (about 1/8” thick), fold dough in half, place onto half of the pie pan, fold the other half over the rest of pie pan, carefully pat the dough into the bottom and around the edges, then crimp into any form you desire.

Dough should set in pan one hour before filling and is best used fresh.

Note: If you refrigerate the dough (it will hold two to three days) or freeze it, store it in a Ziploc freezer bag and bring it to room temperature before using. Makes one pie crust.

Source: Seessel’s family recipes

Recipe Exchange: Fresh Apple Cake