Never Fail Chocolate Meringue Pie - Vintage Recipe

This recipe comes from my 1975 copy of For the Love of Cooking.  When the holidays approach, I start thinking about pies, and trying new recipes.  This is the first time I ever attempted chocolate meringue pie, and it turned out splendidly.  It is a more dense and rich chocolate than your pudding based recipes.  The layer of chocolate is also not as generous as pudding based recipes, but I found that since it is much richer, it was just enough.

 Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
3 heaping tablespoons cocoa
Dash of salt
1 cup boiling water
1 baked 9 inch pie shell (I think you could use an 8 inch, if you wanted the chocolate to be thicker)
3 egg whites
3 tbsp. sugar

Beat egg yolks until light and lemon colored.  Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, and cocoa.  Add beaten egg yolks and salt to sugar mixture.  Slowly blend in 1 cup of boiling water.  Cook (preferably in a double boiler - but I just used a pot and was careful not to get it too hot), stirring constantly, until mixture is thick.  Cool.

When filling has cooled, spoon into cooled, baked piecrust.  Beat egg whites until they begin to stiffen (this can take a while, be patient).  Continue beating while adding sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until whites form stiff peaks (if you lift the beaters out of the eggs, a white peak will form).  Spread on top of pie and bake at 350* for 15 minutes or until crust is brown. 

Needless to say, this pie didn't last very long in our house!  Enjoy it.