Heavenly angel pie

KATIE KELLEY | CIN WEEKLY

Jill Schroeder shows off Chocolate Angel Pie, a dessert her grandmother taught her to make. The dish can be served with raspberries or strawberries. (Photo by Leigh Patton/CiN Weekly)

CiNcook

FEATURED COOK:
Jill Schroeder

NEIGHBORHOOD:
Covington

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There's a reason why it's called "home cooking" ... probably because it's worth going home for. And if anyone is better at home cooking than mom, it's grandma.

"My grandmother is the reason I cook," Jill Schroeder says of her grandmother Syble Simmons, who lives in Mississippi. In fact, Chocolate Angel Pie is her grandmother's recipe.

"Usually I try to make her recipes a lot," Schroeder says. "She is an amazing cook. She doesn't even measure things."

Schroeder, a Colorado native, got the cooking bug when she moved here seven years ago to attend mortuary school. At the time, she says her idea of cooking was warming up SpaghettiOs.

Now, she says, "I like to cook everything. I really like to make desserts and bake."

Schroeder, who now works as a funeral director/embalmer at Swindler and Currin Funeral Home in Covington, and her husband, Brian, never planned on staying here after she finished school, but he found a job he liked, so she searched for a job locally and found one, and they decided to stay.

Now the couple, who married in Las Vegas five years ago, are working on remodeling and renovating their approximately 80-year-old house, which they purchased four months ago. They've ripped up carpet, finished hardwood floors, gutted the kitchen and put in a shower. "We've been working so hard," she says. "It's become our hobby out of necessity."

The couple also collects mid-century furniture (furniture from the 1940s and '50s) and is furnishing their house in that style.

But when she's not helping with house-related projects, Schroeder still finds time to cook. "If I cook for friends or if we go over to people's houses, I always volunteer to bring the dessert," she says. She often takes Chocolate Angel Pie and suggests serving it with raspberries or strawberries. "The filling is a lot like chocolate mousse. It's pretty rich," she says.

CHOCOLATE ANGEL PIE

INGREDIENTS

Meringue shell:

•2 egg whites
•1/2 cup sugar
•1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
•1/2 cup chopped pecans

Filling:

•2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
•1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
•5 tablespoons coffee, brewed strong
•8 oz. Cool Whip

PREPARATION

Meringue shell:

Allow egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes in a large mixing bowl. Combine egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat with electric mixer on medium about one minute until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and beat the hell out of the egg whites on high about 4 minutes until stiff, glossy peaks are formed and sugar is dissolved (it should look like vanilla icing). Mix in pecans and bake in greased and floured pie pan in 275 degree oven for 1 hour. Then turn oven off and leave shell in the oven for 1 hour.

Filling:

In a medium saucepan, heat chocolate chips on low until completely melted. Add vanilla and coffee. Continue to cook on low and stir until combined and smooth. Let mixture cool for 20 minutes and then fold in Cool Whip until mixture is uniform color. Spread evenly on top of shell. Optionally top with fruit and drizzle with vanilla icing. Refrigerate and serve.