Apple Pie with Lucky Leaf Pie Filling and Pampered Chef Pie Plate (Giveaway)

 

Who would like a slice of Apple Pie?  ME!  I think apple pie is my favorite kind of pie.  Too bad I didn’t make this one gluten free.  I will admit to having snitched a bite.  (Living on the edge.)  My favorite pie filling folks at Lucky Leaf sent me a fun package with some pie filling and this awesome Pampered Chef pie plate.  My family convinced me to make a cheesecake for Thanksgiving.  They love nothing more than opening cans of pie filling, especially cherry and blueberry (which Lucky Leaf also sent me) and having it with cheesecake.  But even though I can’t and didn’t eat the pie, I had to make apple pie with the apple filling. 

Lucky Leaf’s canned pie filling is full to the top with apples. 

I love that and wish I’d had two cans of it for the pie, but since I didn’t, I cooked some apples and added it to the filling to make a fuller pie.  Another thing I love about Lucky Leaf premium pie fillings—no high fructose corn syrup.  Not only that, but there are just minimal ingredients, basically the same as you’d make at home—fruit, sugar, cornstarch, and spices.  Sure comes in handy in a pinch.

I chopped up 4 apples, added a little sugar, a touch of lemon and some cinnamon and cooked them in a pot for about 10 minutes.   Then I folded the Lucky Leaf filling in with the cooked apples.  I put that in my prepared pie crust in the awesome Pampered Chef pie plate, added a crust top and baked it for 35 minutes.

I think the pie turned out great!  I really like the already fluted edge of the pie plate. 

I have always had a hard time fluting the edge of pie and this really did make it easier for me.  And it’s a pretty plate!

Apple Pie with Lucky Leaf Premium Pie Filling, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 can Lucky Leaf Premium Apple Pie Filling

4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (use your favorite apple)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Homemade pie crust, ready for top and bottom of pie (I used Dorie Greenspan's Galette Dough recipe), chilled for at least 30 minutes

2 tablespoons cream, for brushing on the crust

Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling over the pie

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 

Put the prepared apples in a saucepan, along with the lemon juice, cinnamon and sugar.  Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

While the apples are cooking, roll out the bottom crust and put it in the pie plate.  Fold the pie filling into the cooked apples and put them in the prepared pie plate.  Roll out the top crust and cover the apples with it.  Tuck the top crust around  the edges slightly over the bottom crust and flute the edges.  Vent the top of the pie making slits with a knife.  (I always make a little pie crust cutout of whatever kind of pie I’m making to put in the center of the crust.) Bake for 35-40 minutes, if the crust is browning too much during baking, cover lightly with foil.  Let cool on a wire rack.

(I didn’t check the browning of my crust in time and would have covered it with foil a little sooner, it was almost done when I looked.  It was still definitely not too dark though.  It sliced nicely, too.

A couple of the boys had a slice of the pie, but Kevin wouldn’t want me to tell you he has eaten about 3/4 of it over a couple of days.  Every time he’s in the kitchen and wonders what he can eat, I keep telling him to eat the pie.  He’d want you to know he’s doing it just for me.  Besides that, it’s really good!

Did I mention a giveaway?  Yes—Lucky Leaf wants to give one of my lucky, randomly chosen readers a Pampered Chef pie plate and some of their premium pie filling, too!  I want to make it simple for you—just leave me a comment here about one of your favorite holiday family traditions.  The giveaway will be open to US residents only and will go until 12:00 p.m., Friday, December 12.  A winner will be announced on Facebook and other social media, so make sure you’re following Baking and Boys and Lucky Leaf!  Thanks and thank you Lucky Leaf!

Baking and Boys! on Facebook

My Twitter Account (@koismith)

Baking and Boys! on Pinterest

Lucky Leaf on Pinterest  Check out all their delicious pinned recipes!

Lucky Leaf on Facebook

Lucky Leaf on Twitter

#BakethisHolidaySpecial 

***UPDATE—GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED.  WINNER SELECTED.  THE WINNER IS LISA BARRON!  LISA, PLEASE CONTACT ME VIA EMAIL (kevnkoi@hotmail.com) ASAP WITH YOUR ADDRESS.  Congratulations! 

Cranberry Crackle Tart—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

I made our Tuesdays With Dorie recipe for Thanksgiving.  Normally we would post on Tuesdays, but since this one was so close to the holiday, we were given permission to post after the day.  The color is off on my photos as most of them were taken in a hurry while the tart was sitting at the dessert table.  I took a few at home right after it baked, too.    I should have taken more time for better photos because I loved the way the tart looked. 

First I made the crust with Dorie’s Galette Dough (page 420 of Baking Chez Moi).  I made this dough twice over the holiday and love how it rolled out nicely and didn’t stick to the counter.  The tart was easy to make, it was just a meringue with cranberries folded in to it.  Some raspberry jam was spread on the bottom of the tart before added the meringue.  The tart is then baked low and slow for an hour and it had a great crackled top.  I admit to tasting one bite of the tart and I really liked it.  I could have easily eaten more of this tart, but didn’t for  my health’s sake.  Now for fun, I want to make cranberry meringue cookies with raw honey. 

This was a perfect holiday tart and would be even better for Christmas, I think.  You are in luck, Dorie posted this recipe on her blog a couple years ago--Cranberry Crackle Tart.  I personally think if you like great baking, you should get Dorie’s book, Baking Chez Moi.  We won’t be posting recipes in the group and they won’t all be available online.  Add this book to your wish list if you don’t have it yet.

Blue Razzleberry Pie for National Blueberry Pie Day

Today is National Blueberry Pie Day!  The wonderful folks at Driscoll's recently sent me $15 worth of coupons for their delicious berries to celebrate the day.  Thanks, Driscoll’s!

A couple issues came up.  I couldn’t find Driscoll’s blueberries around here.  I tried a few places.  I was really bummed.  But I do have blueberries from last year in my freezer so I used those and in honor of Driscoll’s berries, I did (much more easily) find their raspberries and blackberries at my local grocery store.  SO, I decided to make a mostly blueberry pie and threw in some raspberries and blackberries.  Thus the reason I’m calling my pie a Blue Razzleberry Pie.  Clever, I know.  I can’t help it. ;)

Look at all the berry-goodness!  I set out to find just the pie recipe I wanted to make and settled on this one I found at Bon Appetit Magazine website.  I wanted to have a streusel topped pie and this fit the bill.  But friends, can I just tell you how frustrating it is when I make a pie crust and follow directions exactly and STILL have crust that shrinks while it’s baking.  Sigh.  I’m going to figure this out.  Maybe it’s a Utah/higher altitude issue.   Irks me to no end though when I prebake a crust and it’s shrinks.  I think I’m going to not prebake a crust and see if it helps.  I know, some think I’ll then have a soggy crust, but I’ve never had that happen.  If you see all that juice in the bowl of macerating berries, I didn’t put it all in the pie.  I knew since the blueberries had been frozen that it was too much. 

Isn’t that purty?  Not.

But I carried on and put the berries in the pie and the streusel on top and baked it.  The Bon Appetit recipe said to bake it for one hour and 15 minutes, checking it after 30 minutes to see if the crust is getting too brown and if so to cover it with foil.  I thought the crust looked just right, so I did cover it loosely with foil.  Set the timer for another 30 minutes.  I peeked in on it after about 15 and it looked great.  By the time the second 30 minutes were up, the entire bottom of the crust was swimming in a blue-purple blueberry goo.  SIGH!  I can’t tell you how upset that makes me. 

I found solace in knowing that the pie would still taste great.  It just wasn’t going to win any pie contests for beauty.  ;)  I knew to be careful with how much I filled the crust since it shrunk in a few places in the prebake.  Didn’t help.  What really tanned my hide is that it still had 15 more minutes bake time according to the recipe.  I took it out at one hour and didn’t let it bubble away all over for another fifteen.

I was right.  The pie is very good.  Love the extra hit of raspberry and blackberry, but it’s definitely a blueberry pie.  Thanks again for the berries, Driscoll's (Facebook page).  Check it out and like them on Facebook and find the link to their website above.  They have lots of great recipes posted.  Should have looked there first, duh! Since I wanted a streusel topped pie, I just Googled it and got Bon Appetit.  Sometimes, my brain is not firing on all cylinders.  In my own defense, I did follow the Bon Appetit recipe directions exactly and still had a shrunken prebaked crust.

Bake on!

Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pie for Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!  While you math people celebrate in your own special ways, I choose to celebrate with pie! ;)

Today I decided to make a Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pie because of two reasons—I had a couple Meyer lemons in the fridge begging to be used and two—I  also had some buttermilk to use as well.  I really like Meyer lemons.  I have gone through a dozen of them in the last month or so.  When I first bought some, I looked up all kinds of recipes and had a hard time deciding what to do with them.

At one time, I used them in a lemon poppy seed dressing with a spinach and strawberry salad.  De-lish!  I used one in some lemon cornmeal cookies I made recently—they were good, but I didn’t think they were that pretty, so I didn’t post them.   Basically, lately when I made something that needs lemon, I’ve been using Meyer lemons.  I love that they aren’t too terribly tart and have their own distinct flavor with a little hint of orange or tangerine.

So, in that search a month or so ago, I found this pie and have had it on my “to make” list since then.  The recipe for this pie is found on a new-to-me blog by Alanna, The Bojon Gourmet.  She is a baker and pastry chef and has gorgeous photos of the things she makes.  This Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pie recipe is so well written and Alanna tried it different ways until she felt it was perfect.  Like she mentioned, she had never made a buttermilk pie before and neither had I.  I wanted something a little different than just making a lemon meringue pie or lemon bars or something like that so when I saw that this had buttermilk, I decided that was what I wanted to try. 

I followed her recipe to a tee.  My only issue was, even though I did exactly as she described in her recipe for the crust, mine still shrunk a bit.  Hate it when that happens.  I’m wondering if that could be solved with some high altitude tweaking, but who knows.  So after prebaking the crust and seeing it had shrunk a bit, I knew all of the filling wouldn’t fit in the crust.  I filled it as full as it could be without overflowing.  Then I made a quick cookie crust with Nilla Wafers and baked the rest in a 9x5 inch bread pan that I lined with non-stick foil.  It came out great!

The cookie crust was simple and could easily be doubled in an 8x8 inch pan.  Here’s the recipe for the bread pan.

Nilla Wafer Cookie Crust, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup Nilla Wafer cookie crumbs

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Combine the cookie crumbs, sugar and melted butter until it is the consistency of wet sand.  Spread evenly in a 9x5 inch bread pan lined with non-stick foil, leaving some foil hanging over the edges to easily release the tart from the pan.  Prebake the cookie crust in a 325 degree oven for 10 minutes. 

As if you couldn’t tell, I made some whipped cream for the top of each slice of pie and the tart.  With the Meyer lemons, this isn’t as tart as regular lemons would be.  If you’re a lemon fan, and especially like Meyer lemons, go check out the blog with the recipe, The Bojon Gourmet.

French Apple Tart—Tuesdays With Dorie

This week we got to make a true French classic for Tuesdays With Dorie—French Apple Tart.  I know there will be some beautiful tarts in the group. 

First a pie crust is made and put into a tart pan.  With my current cutting back on sweet treats, I decided to make two mini tarts (they were made in four inch tart pans).  For the applesauce layer, I cut the recipe in the book down to 1/6.  The recipe uses 6 apples, I just used one.  Then about half an apple for each of the top layers. 

This became an even easier task for me when I saw some pie crust dough in my freezer.  I didn’t write on the outside what crust it was, but decided to use it up.  It was probably a pate brisee' which is a simple short crust recipe/method I learned from Paige at For Love of the Table.  Yes, there was still a lot of crust leftover.  I made a quick peach pie with some canned filling I had.  My oldest son ate the whole thing within a couple days. 

I knew the French Apple Tart would be good, since apple pie is probably my favorite pie.  The few bites I had were great!  Love the soft applesauce layer on the bottom.  This would definitely be a wonderful show stopper of a dessert for company.

Gaye from Laws of the Kitchen is hosting this week and has the recipe on her blog.  You need this recipe in your file.  But I’ll say it again, you should have Baking With Julia in your cookbook collection.

TWD—Baking With Julia—Blueberry Nectarine Pie

Blueberry Nectarine Mini Pie

Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking With Julia this week was a pie.  I made the pie crust for this pie last week.  It chilled in the fridge for a few days.  I thought I was going to get the pie made on Saturday, then Sunday, then yesterday it was then or I wasn’t going to get it done in time.  It worked nicely to already have the pie crust dough made.  I was excited to see how the dough rolled out.  I’ve tried so many pie crusts over the years and some really are hit or miss.  Dorie said with this recipe that it will be one you’ll always want to have with you and use. 

I followed the filling recipe almost exactly, except that since we have a freezer full of blueberries, I used frozen blueberries even though the recipe suggested fresh ones.  I also added an extra cup of frozen blueberries to the mix, using four cups instead of the three.  I did use fresh nectarines, using only two as each one cut up was a cup.  I decided to do more of a dice on the nectarines as I didn’t want slices of it throughout the blueberry pie.

   While the blueberry/nectarine filling cooled, I started rolling out the crust.

The dough was quite sticky and no matter how I tried, it stuck to the counter every time I tried rolling it out and lifting it up to put in the pie plate.  Grrr.  Never fear—I decided to try making mini pies and hoped I’d have better luck with smaller amounts of dough.  It actually got to where the more the dough became closer to room temperature instead of cold that it was easier to work with.  I thought that was strange since it is usually preferred that a pie dough be cold when you’re working with it.  Maybe I just hadn’t made the dough the right consistency before chilling it?  At any rate, I starting rolling out four inch pie crusts and placing them in my two mini tart pans and two mini cake pans and ended up with four great looking mini pies. 

I decided to just bake one pie and the other three are in the freezer.  My parents are coming to stay a weekend in two weeks before they go on a mission for our church for a year.  They will be serving in Omaha, Nebraska which we think will give us great reason to go visit our Midwest friends and see them within the next year.  Anyway, I decided my mom would love her own mini pie, since she doesn’t eat chocolate and that is often included in the goodies I make.

 

I played around with different edges to the pies.  After being so frustrated with the dough, it became much nicer to work with the more it was “played with”. 

I baked one pie for about 35 minutes.  When I scooped all the filling in to each pie, I did not add all the extra filling juice that was there, it seemed like a lot.  Probably since I’d used frozen blueberries.  The pie that I baked turned out great.

So glad I made the TWD recipe this week.  If you’d like the recipe, our hosts this week will have them on their blogs.

Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake made a great looking lattice for her pie.

Hillary at Manchego's Kitchen made her pie with blueberries, raspberries and nectarines and made a crumb topping.

Have I ever mentioned I like pie?

Yep, I do. ;)

Lucky Leaf Giveaway and Blueberry Pie, Strawberry Cookie Pie, Peach Cinnacake and Frozen Strawberry Pie Pops

Brace yourself for a delicious post full of all kinds desserts and treats made with Lucky Leaf premium pie filling—and a giveaway! Lucky Leaf contacted me and asked if I wanted to try some of their pie fillings and some fun ice pop molds.  I thought it would be fun to try them.  After receiving the package, I went to town making all the recipes they sent along with the products.

First, I made some  frozen strawberry pie pops.  I love the spiral shape of them and the boys enjoyed eating them.

I know, this is where you think it would be fun to see some cute pictures of my boys eating the pops.  And this is where I tell you that my camera is broken and on its way to the fix-it place.  Needless to say, I’m not thrilled with any of the pictures that will be in this post since I took them with my phone and due mostly to user-error, they aren’t that great.  So I did take some pictures of the boys, and they are blurry.  sigh  Anyway, for this post, I’ve picked out the best of the worst to share with you, because there are some great treats here. ;)

After making the pops, which I made using only half the strawberry pie filling, I made some miniature strawberry cream peanut butter cookie pies.  In the recipes given to me by Lucky Leaf, they suggested using refrigerated store-bought cookie dough.  But since I don’t do that, I made my own and decided on a peanut butter cookie dough for the crust.  They also suggested mixing the pie filling with thawed frozen whipped dessert topping, but I used real whipped cream.  One of the things I like about Lucky Leaf pie fillings is that they are made with no high fructose corn syrup---so I didn’t want to add any other pre-packaged ingredients and have other high fructose or hydrogenated oils, etc. in these desserts. 

These were good.  The peanut butter cookie crust was perfect for the fluffy strawberries and cream filling.  I took half of these to Kevin’s sister’s house and I think Scott ate the rest of them.  He really liked them!

I then used the peach pie filling to make my version of Lucky Leaf’s Perfectly Peach Cinnacake.   Their suggestion was to use a boxed cake mix, but I made my own dry cake mix and was happy with how it turned out.  Kevin, who as we all know, doesn’t like cake and especially frosting, actually really liked this cake (because it didn’t have frosting).  The boys all enjoyed topping their pieces of cake with some whipped cream.

The recipe said to fold the pie filling into the cake mix, but I didn’t want chunks of peach throughout the cake, so I actually pulsed the filling in the food processor before adding it to the cake.  It was good!

And finally, and probably my favorite of all these desserts I made a simple pie crust and made some mini blueberry pies.  Some perfectly two-bite mini pie pockets that were delicious (I love pie crust!).

Blueberry pie filling goodness hiding inside of these!

Even more fun, was this little three inch lattice pie I made.

I love how perfectly the pie sliced! And it tasted great!  And for the record, I did not make all of these in one day!  I will share the recipes I used for making homemade cake/cookie crust and pie crust in later posts, so stay tuned for those!

Meanwhile, Lucky Leaf is willing to send some of their premium pie fillings, ice pop molds and recipes cards to one of my readers!  Wanna win?  Leave me a comment letting me know what is you favorite flavor of pie.  That’s one entry.  For another entry, like the Baking and Boys! Facebook page and come back and leave me a separate comment that you did (or if you already do).  The deadline to enter for this giveaway is Monday, June 18, noon MST.  (U.S. Residents only please.)

TWD—Baking With Julia—Pizza Rustica

Pizza Rustica—sounds like pizza, but is more like a quiche or savory pie.  We made that this go-round for Tuesdays With Dorie--Baking With Julia.  It is fun to be making these recipes in Baking With Julia now.  I like that we go from simple Irish soda bread to something more involved like Rugelach or this Pizza Rustica.

I like the pie.  Even though I used a low fat ricotta, I know that this “pizza” is not really low fat, so I’ve tried not to eat too much of it.  My only problem with it was the crust.  It was quite a wet dough, did not specify any chilling time and I could not get it to roll out without sticking like crazy to my well-floured surface.  I persevered and ended up pressing the bottom crust in to the pie plate.  Since the top crust wasn’t going to cooperate with being rolling out and cut into lattice strips, I cut it into fun circles and placed them over the top of the pie.  The little circles were much easier to work with getting off the counter. 

I was happy that I even decided while buying ricotta to get some prosciutto instead of just using ham or bacon like I was going to and it was really good.  The only change I made to the whole recipe was that I used low fat ricotta instead of whole milk.

I think this would be good with a different crust, like just a regular pie crust.  Not sure what my problem was with this one, but I followed the recipe exactly.  Maybe the original recipe came from someone who measures flour with a heavy hand.  I weighed mine.  Either way, this is a great pizza pie for a brunch or even breakfast or lunch, whatever, you could have it for dinner, too.

If you want the recipe, Emily from Capital Region Dining or Raelyn from  The Place They Call Home are the hosts this time and they’ll have the recipe posted for you.  Lots of Pizza Rustica viewing for your hungry eyes over at TWD Headquarters.

A Virtual Blog Party For My Friend Shelby With Mini Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie Bites

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (or whichever holiday you celebrate)!  We did and are truly blessed!  Now, it’s time to par-tay!  I’m not just talking about ringing in the New Year, though that is a reason to celebrate.  Today I’m talking about a virtual blog party!

My friend, Shelby, at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch is celebrating her fourth year blogging anniversary.  (Mine is coming up, too—in February.  My how time flies!)  Shelby thought it would be fun to celebrate with a virtual party and word has it, a giveaway, so be sure to head on over and check it out.  Besides, she has a great blog with some amazing food and some great stories she shares, mostly about her significant other, Grumpy and their relationship.  Shelby’s blog is one of the first I started reading.  She used to blog along with TWD (Tuesdays With Dorie), which is how I got to know her. 

I recently did a guest post on her blog while she and Grumpy sailed the ocean blue on a cruise.  She is such a kind-hearted person, one that I’m sure if we actually ever met face to face would be a great friend of mine.  As for now, we are “virtual” friends.  Can’t wait to see what else she shares next on her blog.  Year number five, here we come! ;)

For the blog party, I recently made some Mini Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie Bites (Tarts) that I wanted to share.  Don’t know if you’ll recall, but for Thanksgiving, I made this delicious Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie that was a big hit.  I had many people asking for the recipe.  I thought it would be really fun to make again, but mini-size.  These are great one-bite wonders that are perfect for serving at any party.  I love the little mini-tart fillo shells you can buy in the freezer section at most grocery stores (the ones I get are from a company called Athens).  At only 15 calories each, they are a great alternative to pie crust.  You can use them for all things savory and sweet—but of course, I went with sweet for this party!  I just cut the Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie recipe down and piped some of it into each fillo shell.  Then I drizzled on a little extra straight-up Nutella and sprinkled on a few chopped hazelnuts.  You can leave those off if you’d like, but they added a great texture to the mini pies.  I also thought they’d be great topped with a little dollop or piping of whipped cream, but I left that off this time.

Mini Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie Bites, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

30 mini fillo shells (2 boxes)

1/2 cup Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread

4 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened (half a brick)

4 ounces whipped topping or whipped cream (1/2 to 1 cup, to taste)

2 tablespoons more Nutella, for drizzling

2 tablespoons or so chopped, toasted hazelnuts, for sprinkling (optional)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the frozen mini fillo shells on a baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, just to crisp them up a bit.  Let cool.

Combine in the bowl of a food processor or mixer the Nutella and cream cheese.  Scrape sides of bowl and make sure it is all well combined and smooth.  Add the whipped topping or whipped cream and pulse to combine.  With a rubber spatula, scrape the filling into a piping bag fitted with about a 1/4 inch flower tip (or you could use a plastic zip top bag and cut off the corner).  Pipe some of the filling into each shell.  Put some of the extra Nutella into a plastic zip top bag with just a small tip of the corner snipped off and drizzle over the Nutella chocolate cream filling.  Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts (if using).  Refrigerate until serving.

These are perfect for a party.  I like little bite-sized things because then you can have more or are able to try lots of different things and not feel so guilty! ;)  And try to just eat one of these!  They’re really good, especially if you love Nutella!  I do!  Probably not many treats to make for a party that are easier!

……And many more!!!…..to you, Shelby!  Party on!  Go to Shelby's blog now!!  Check out her virtual party and enter the giveaway!

TWD—Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie (or Tart)

Mini Sour Cream Pumpkin Tartlet

I really wanted to get both recipes made for TWD this week, but I was not able to get to the Normandy Apple Tart!  I have two apple tarts on my must-make list soon.  The week before last there was an Alsatian Apple Tart and this week’s apple tart was chosen by Tracey from Tracey's Culinary Adventures.  She has the recipe on the link to her blog.  And how pretty does her tart look!  I’ve had a similar tart before and it was so good—the applesauce on the bottom was great.    I even bought the apples I wanted to use for the tart, but just ran out of week for making both.

After all the Thanksgiving goodness and still having these pies/tarts on the need-to-make list, I decided to make just half the recipe for the pumpkin pie and I used the leftover pie crust dough from a couple pies I’d made for Thanksgiving.  It was just the right amount of pie dough to make two four inch mini tarts.  After halving the pumpkin pie filling, it was enough to fill the two tarts and two ramekins (without crust).  Yum to both!

The pumpkin pie is simple and classic with just an addition of sour cream.  My only adaptations to the recipe were that I used lowfat evaporated milk instead of the heavy cream and I used lowfat sour cream.  I also omitted the dark rum.   I would use this recipe again for pumpkin pies in the future.

Kevin and Scott both like pumpkin pie and happily ate some of this.  And I enjoyed it, too, you know, since I did use some lowfat ingredients, it’s probably not all that bad for ya—especially the ones with no crust.  This recipe was chosen by Judy of Judy's Gross Eats and she’ll have the recipe posted on her blog. 

Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie

I made this Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie for Thanksgiving and I would have to say, though there were many yummy pies, this one was the hit of the party (it was also the only pie with chocolate, maybe that’s what it was).  I posted a picture of it on Facebook and was bombarded with people begging for the recipe, as well as those who got to taste it at our Thanksgiving dinner—so here it is!

And I must tell you—it IS really good, especially if you like Nutella (chocolate/hazelnut spread).  The pie on Thanksgiving sat out on the dessert table for a while—and while the pie was still good at room temperature, it is much better having some chilled right out of the fridge.  This pie is a simple combination of Nutella, cream cheese and either whipped cream or Cool Whip.  I actually was planning to make it with whipped cream and for some reason at the last second I used Cool Whip (I had both on hand).   The pie can also be made with any crust you’d like.  I used a homemade graham cracker crust.  You could use an Oreo or chocolate crust to really bump up the chocolate or I thought it would even be good in a regular pie crust (kind of like French Silk Pie).

I also decided at the last minute to drizzle some warmed Nutella over the top of the pie and sprinkle on some chopped, toasted hazelnuts.  I was so happy with how easy the pie was to make and how good it is!

I was lucky enough to get the one picture of the slice of pie and that it came out so nicely, since the pie was room temperature and it was one of the last pieces after everyone took their own slices off the pie.  I will be making this again soon just to try for better pictures!  Oh okay, and maybe to eat more of it! ;)

Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from my friend Anne’s recipe which was adapted from Plain Chicken

Filling-- 

1 cup Nutella (chocolate/hazelnut spread)

8 ounces cream cheese, softened (I always use the 1/3 less fat kind)

8 ounces Cool Whip (you can also use fresh whipped cream)

extra Nutella (about 1/4 cup) for drizzling (optional)

1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped (optional)

Graham Cracker Crust--

1 sleeve (about 1  1/2 cups) graham cracker, finely ground into crumbs

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  After grinding the graham crackers into fine crumbs in a food processor, add the sugar and pulse a few times.  Then add the melted butter and pulse until all of it is moist.  Dump it into a pie plate and press down evenly, including up the sides of the plate.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese.  Add the Nutella and beat until all creamed together.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat a little more to make sure it is all incorporated.  Add the Cool Whip or whipped cream and mix again to combine.  Scoop the Nutella mixture into the cooled crust and spread evenly.  Drizzle the extra Nutella (warmed in a small glass bowl in the microwave for about 20 seconds to thin it out slightly) over the pie.  Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts around the edges of the pie (or however you’d like). 

Chill for at least a couple hours (I made it the day before serving it and it was great!).

 This pie is quite rich, but oh so delicious.  I’m going to make mini graham cracker crusts and pipe the Nutella cream into them for a perfect smaller treat.  Can’t wait!