Chess and Nut Pies

Chess pies, of English descent, carne first to plantation kitchens. Later, clever cooks carne up with pecan pies. The appeal of the rich nut desserts is so great that women all over the country learned to make them, using the nuts that were most available in their neighborhoods—Missouri’s Black-Walnut Pie, for instance. Usually, the pies are puffed up when taken from the oven, but the filling falls as it cools and has a jellylike consistency.

Peanuts are not nuts, but their name and the marvelous, inexpensive pies you can make with them (Farmer’s Peanut Pie, to name one) entitles them to space in this Cookbook. The same goes for Oatmeal Pie, which some cooks call mock-nut pie. The oatmeal, when baked, has a texture and flavor that suggests nuts.