Pi Day! (Chocolate Chess Pie)

Declaring March 14th Pi day was someone's good idea to amuse nerds and give everyone an excuse to make/eat pie. My household observes pi(e) day enthusiastically. Since one of the recipes in EveryDayCook is a pie, this seemed like a good excuse to try it out; enter the Chocolate Chess Pie.
There is a note in this recipe that Alton will "allow" this to be made with a store-bought crust. Meh. I don't buy pre-made pie crusts, just like I don't buy pre-made pie filling. So I made a simple mix & pat in the pan pie crust, no sweat. The pie has a rich custard filling and is covered in a pecan meringue topping.

Freshly Baked Chocolate Custard

I asked for a mini-torch for my birthday so I could brown the meringue with it. The birthday blow torch delivered.

Yes, it was fun to brown this with a little blow torch.

I took this into work, where it was greeted with awe and eaten in record time. I got several comments along the lines of "by the time I heard about it, it was gone..." along with glowing feedback from the people who did eat it.

I reserved the first piece for myself.

Less then an hour after putting it out this what what was left.

Difficulty Level: Complex, mostly due to the topping. Making this topping uses a style where you will be folding 210 degree sugar syrup into whipped egg whites before firing up the blow torch.

Will It Get Made Again? Yes. This one qualifies as worth the effort, and several people didn't get to try the first one.
The rich custard filling is delicious. The meringue topping has a marshmallow-like flavor (and smells like a toasted marshmallow when it's getting browned) and looks as good as it tastes. If you want a dessert to impress a crowd with, this will do it.