Boozy Nutella Cream Pie

Hi! It’s been a hot long minute since I’ve written and It probably seems like I dropped off the face of the earth for the few of you that followed me. But it was a much needed break. I apologize for not announcing a departure or explaining why I needed a break, but I think I got to a point where I felt overwhelmed. It was overwhelming to move, to transition to being a stay at home mom from a working mom. Family relationships had been strained and I didn’t feel that spark I had for this blog, for baking, for creativity. The stresses of the past year caught up with me and I just wanted to hide and nap for a while. None of that happened by the way, but I needed to step away from the commitments that didn’t necessarily make me happy anymore and allow myself to breathe again.

This blog, as much as I’ve loved it and am so very proud of myself for creating, was draining. The social media aspects, the need to post constantly, the anxiety it created wasn’t healthy and didn’t serve me or my family well. I lost my passion for it, and sadly my ideas dried up. Ironically my waistline didn’t get smaller with this drought of baked goods in my house, but thats ok… I guess. But now that we are approaching the holiday season, and I have yet to post anything holiday-y… I felt a need to get back into the kitchen and into this space. A spark had suddenly re appeared. I wanted to create things, doctor things up, I wanted to get back in the kitchen for myself.

So I think this is the way this is going to work now. For years I had committed myself to posting a recipe on this blog once or twice week. It was hard and stressful and soemtimes drove me crazy. But now, I’ve decided to only post when the spark hits. When I have an idea that I can’t get out of my head and need to get it down on paper…or internet… This is when you’ll get the best of me. No more stressing about recipes that didn’t work out because I needed to post something. No more anxiety over instagram groups, liking and commenting on everyone’s posts. I’m just going to focus on the things that make me happy, when I can make time for them in my crazy life.

I’ve added more commitments to me kids schedules this year, and I started freelance writing again. So I’m bus, but I’m also starting to find the bits and pieces of me I want to be now. I want to be able to give you the best parts of my life without having to stress over it. These are all big blogging and social media no no’s by the way. Not posting in regular intervals kills your numbers and followers and doesn’t allow your readers to know when to visit you next. But I realized I’m not in this to gain a crazy following. (though it would be pretty cool… spread the word guys!!) I want to create a place where I can share my ideas and thoughts and create a community of bakers. Wouldn’t that be cool? Where mom’s, home kitchen cooks and homemade ideas can flourish! Yay!

So this is what I’ve come here today with, Nutella Cream Pie. It’s inspired by the hot chocolate my husband makes me as a nightcap from time to time… usually around the holiday season. It’s basically melted Nutella in hot milk and a shot of Frangelico. It sounds super simple but its seriously the best Hot Chocolate ever!

This pie is rich, but not too sweet. Like the best grown up chocolate pudding ever, in a rich hazelnut shortbread crust topped with cocoa whipped cream. It’s basically heaven on a plate. Now I have to stop myself from eating the whole thing…

The pie comes together pretty easily. I made two in one morning when I was prepping for a PTA Pie day at my son’s school. It starts with the crust, which is a super simple mix of melted butter, flour and toasted chopped hazelnuts. You can always use pecans or walnuts, any nut would be good. This mixture gets pressed into a pie plate and baked for about 15-20 minutes until it turns a light golden brown.

Then comes the filling which is a basic custard filling. Milk is mixed with sugar, cornstarch and cocoa. Heat until it boils then temper the egg yolks with 1/3 cup of the hot milk mixture. Whisk the egg yolks while adding in the hot milk then return it all to the pot of milk and whisk until thick and luscious. Take the mixture off the heat and add in Hazelnut liquor, Nutella and butter. Gosh, how can this not me good!?

You can add this mixture to your prepped pie crust or you can strain it through a mesh sieve to makes sure its smooth, but thats up to you. Honestly, I would devour this lumps and all!

Now for the hard part. Wrap in plastic, making sure it touches the pudding. Refrigerate the pie for 4-6 hours! Make the whipped cream by beating the cream, cocoa and sugar until you get soft peaks. Make sure not to over whip or else you’ll get chocolate butter! Top your pie and slice or refrigerate until ready to serve!

Boozy Nutella Cream Pie

Makes a 9” Pie

Ingredients

Crust:

• 3/4 cup butter, unsalted

• 2 cups flour

• 1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

Nutella Pudding Filling:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup cornstarch

• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

• 2 cups whole milk

• 3 large egg yolks

• 1/3 cup Frangelico or other Hazelnut liquor (can be omitted)

• 1/2- 3/4 cup Nutella (depending on preference)

• 1 tablespoons unsalted butter

Cocoa Whipped Cream:

• 1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream

• 2 tbsp sugar

• 1 tbsp cocoa powder

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 325F

2. For the crust, melt the butter and stir in the flour and Hazelnuts.

3. Press crust evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a pie tin/dish.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Let crust cool to room temperature.

5. For the filling, Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy-bottomed medium-large saucepan. Slowly whisk in milk.

6. Place pan over medium heat and bring to a boil, whisking continuously. Boil one minute. Remove from heat.

7. Slowly whisk 1/3 cup of the mixture into the egg yolks. Return egg yolk mixture to pan. Place pan over medium heat and whisk constantly until mixture boils for one minute.

8. Remove from heat. Whisk in Frangelico, followed by Nutella and butter.

9. Place a fine mesh sieve over a bowl. Push filling through the sieve and discard any solids. Transfer filling to prepared crust. Press plastic wrap to the surface. Chill at least 4-6 hours.

10. Make the Whipped cream. Place Heavy cream, sugar and cocoa powder in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whip on high until soft peaks form. Pile on top of chilled pie. Devour!