"I need a recipe for chocolate meringue pie."

Pauline Montiel, St. Louis



"When I saw the request for a chocolate meringue pie, I thought immediately of my mother, who created her own unique version," wrote Shirl Henke of Florissant. "I've worked with it over the years and receive lots of requests for the unusual bittersweet taste. Most chocolate pies are made with milk. This version with water is lighter and has a clear, clean taste."

The amount of sugar in meringue recipes varies widely. This is on the less-sweet side, with 1 tablespoon of sugar for 4 jumbo egg whites. (Another recipe we received calls for 1/2 tablespoon sugar and 3 egg whites; the third recipe also calls for 3 egg whites but uses 6 tablespoons sugar.) If you like a sweeter meringue, sprinkle more sugar to taste.

S.R. Bevirt of Belleville and Diane Friedmeyer of Chesterfield contributed the other recipes, both made with milk. I'll post one of those on my blog, the Recipe Exchange: STLtoday.com/recipeexchange.

And now, another request:

— "I live in Anchorage, but grew up in St. Louis," wrote Rob Marx. "I have the greatest memories of going downtown with my family on Saturdays, and as a special treat we would get to eat at Miss Hullings. My parents sent me the recipe for Miss Hullings macaroni and cheese. But the recipe I've tried to find, or even tried to piece together and have had no success, is what we used to call the poppy seed horns. I don't even know if that was the name they used at Miss Hullings. It might have been a croissant-like recipe, but it had some sweet nutty mix inside, and there were poppy seeds with white icing on top. I would love to be able to bake these for my family up here in Anchorage."