Mom planned a trip to visit on Labor Day weekend so we could celebrate her birthday. I cannot believe she will be 71 years old. Seventy is the new fifty, right?
Every time she visits, we spend lots of time in the kitchen. During the week days while we are at work, she is in my kitchen cooking up a storm. Last time she visited, she made four pie shells to put in the freezer. I called her to remind her she needed to make more when she was here. (Remember, I cannot make a descent pie dough to save my soul—see my ugly A** pie if you need reminded.)
When she visits during this time of year, she also loads up her vehicle (which we call Gran’s Truckster) with lots of produce from her garden. She brought us “all the tomatoes I could handle, loads of green beans, and squash.” With mom’s help, we will preserve some of this Iowa bounty for later eating this winter.
Before mom arrived, I decided to use up the final pie crust and make a pie. I haven’t made dessert in a really long time for us so a pie was needed.
I recently posted my latest Food ‘n Flix post over The Help and I was tempted to make a chocolate pie for that post but I really couldn’t go there. 🙂 I decided to make a Nutella pie to use up this final pie crust, but when I went to find a recipe, most all had either corn syrup or Cool-Whip as a major ingredient. That just didn’t sound good to me.
Luckily, I found a great sounding Peanut Butter Pie at Homesick Texan. It was a cooked pudding based pie and I thought it sounded fabulous. I went about adapting it and this is what I came up with.
Nutella-Coconut Cream Pie
based on the Homesick Texan’s Peanut Butter Pie1 9-inch uncooked pie crust
2 egg yolks, beaten slightly
1 1/2 c. whole milk
3/4 c. sugar
5 T. flour
1/4 t. fine sea salt
¾ c. Nutella
1 c. sweetened coconut
1/2 t. pure vanilla
1/8 t. ground cinnamon
1/8 t. cayenne2 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/4 t. cream of tartar
4 tablespoons of sugarPrick holes in the pie crust with a fork and bake it at 350 until it’s brown, about 20 minutes.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, flour and salt. After ingredients are mixed well, pour into a heavy sauce pan. Continue to whisk while cooking over medium heat until it bubbles and thickens, about five to 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the Nutella, coconut, cinnamon, and cayenne.
Set aside.
Beat egg whites with salt and cream of tartar. When they start to get fluffy, sprinkle in the sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form.
Pour the Nutella mixture into the baked pie shell.
Top with the meringue. Sprinkle a bit more coconut on top of the meringue.
Bake pie until peaks on the meringue and coconut are lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
The cayenne just adds a little back heat (ever so slight) and the cinnamon reminds me of Mexican hot chocolate. I hate to brag, but this might be the best pie ever—but only with Mom’s pie crusts can it be a reality! 🙂
Postscript:
So when mom was here, we needed a birthday cake. She requested a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake but The Hubs stepped in and talked her into another Nutella Pie. For the second pie, I used a tart shell (made by mom) and I did not have enough Nutella so I supplemented with some organic peanut butter. I also didn’t have enough coconut to put on top so I made some beautiful peaks with the meringue.
Comments & Replies
23 responses to “Nutella Pie Instead of Birthday Cake”
Happy birthday to your mom! That is a great post, I love hearing about the visit, the Iowa farm veggies and best of all…you two were in the kitchen together, having fun.
Love Nutella our too. Nice job.
Thanks, Tina. Ask The Hubs—I rarely make a recipe twice in one week, especially dessert. This recipe was most worthy.
Happy birthday to your wonderful mum my friend 🙂
Who needs cake when you have this crazy perfect tart!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I hope she had a great birthday. We had some hilarious times.
Wowza!! You must have had one happy, elevated 😉 mom! Happy, Happy Birthday to her. Sounds like a pretty delicious (not to mention addictive) switch-up on birthday cake to me… love the coconut… yummmmm.
Happy Birthday to your dear mom!
The pie looks gorgeous. I am sure she had a great birthday.
I hope you got lots of kudos for this one, it looks fabulous Hope your mom had a lovely birthday!
Happy birthday to your mom! The meringue looks indeed very professional and gorgeous! I am sure you all enjoyed the tart!
It reminds me of the fun I have in the kitchen with my son. He is a great cook and has all the “toys” you could imagine. We spend a lot of time together in the kitchen when I go to visit. His wife watches to make sure we are following the intructions carefully. She also goes to the store if we have forgotten something. What fun. Those Moms who can do this with their adult children are truly blessed.
I just discovered Nutella – and this sounds wonderful!! The addition of coconut is ingenious. As hot as it was over the weekend (at least on this side of the state) it must have been a labor of love for your mom. Happy birthday to her.
I seriously want to haul butt down to OK to teach you how to make a pie! But you know what, you’re totally crazy b/c the so called “ugly pie” is just fine! You must be a perfectionist. I can relate, but seriously, pie is something you need to practice. Can you tell I’m passionate about mastering pie dough? You must! You must! You must increase your…pie making experience? lol (in case you didn’t get where I was going, my friends used to say “we must, we must, we must increase our bust!–I think it was something we picked up from an exercise video wherre women were doing busty exercises-haha)
Now onto this pie–FABULOUS!! If they have a pie competition at your fair, you should enter it!!!!
Now watch this and make me proud: http://veronicascornucopia.com/2011/06/03/working-with-pie-dough-video-tutorial/
Thanks for all the words of encouragement. Yes, I remember that rhyme. And as ironic as it is (and the truth), I learned that during adolescence from my very cool older cousin from Wichita. Wichita girls must rock! I will have to sit down and study your video when I need more pie crusts. As for now, mom has me set up until Thanksgiving! 🙂
I was wondering if anyone was going to bring up the chocolate pie. 🙂 Well, this was certainly a great substitute! I look fabulous and I bet it was hard to stop eating!
P.S. Happy Birthday to your mom!
Thanks,MJ!
Never made a pie crust in my life…. My mother was a fantastic pie baker but it never rubbed off on me…. Love the Nutella Pie (Graham cracker crust perhaps?)
Ooh! What about a chocolate cookie crust?
Wowzers and then some! That pie may be the best sounding and looking pie I’ve come across. I LOVE the addition of cayenne! Sounds absolutely wonderful. Sounds like the perrfect labor day. 🙂
I am dying to try HS Texan’s pure PB pie, too. Thanks, Jen.
My birthday is Oct. 26th–either kind of pie will work. What time is dinner? I’ll probably have to make flight arrangements.
So Cindy, what’s your pleasure? Nutella or PB? (And I am now thinking PB with just a drizzle of grape jelly!!!!!)
This sounds delicious. I’m guessing you made Mom pretty happy. I love that you put cayenne in it, great kick with chocolate.
Thanks, Aimee. It did have a little bite.