Featured Comment:
“Just WOW! This recipe hits all my ‘great dessert’ loves! Amazing flavor and texture, and so easy to make. So happy I spied it on Pinterest a few days ago!” ~Kitty Ann
Nutella mousse pie – yes, it’s as good as it sounds!
I came up with the idea for this recipe after taking the first bite of my peanut butter pie. When a dessert is that good, I can’t just let it lie, I have to reincarnate it. And this rich chocolate hazelnut mousse pie is the perfect dessert to transition from summer into fall. It’s cool, it’s creamy, and nearly-no-bake (the chocolate cookie crust needs a mere 10 minutes.) But Nutella and toasty hazelnuts take this cozy recipe all the way to the Thanksgiving table and beyond.
the texture of this Nutella pie is totally dreamy
The texture of this pie sits somewhere between a no-bake cheesecake, a five-star restaurant chocolate mousse, and an airy icebox pie filling. I think you’ll be amazed at how lovely it is, especially when you consider that you don’t have to fuss with beating egg whites, or baking in a water bath, etc. The magical texture is somehow light and silky, but sinfully rich at the same time.
what you’ll need for a chocolate hazelnut pie
The beauty of this pie is that the Nutella does a lot of the heavy lifting, flavor and texture wise, so the ingredient list is short and (literally) sweet.
- chocolate wafer cookies for the cookie crust
- butter helps bind the crust together
- Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread gives super silky texture and amazing nutty flavor to the filling
- full fat cream cheese adds body and richness, but you won’t taste a very tangy or cheesecake-y flavor here
- heavy cream gets whipped for lightness and airiness
- cocoa powder intensifies the chocolate flavor in the filling
- vanilla extract and salt
- roasted hazelnuts add crunchy texture and another layer of hazelnut flavor
mix it up with different crust options and flavor variations
- I almost made a graham cracker crust for this pie, which would work great too. Just substitute crushed graham crackers for the chocolate wafers.
- To bring out the hazelnut flavor, try substituting about 1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts for some of the cracker crumbs in the crust.
- This recipe would be great with the addition of a tablespoon or two of a hazelnut liqueur, like Frangelico, added to the filling.
- Try other chocolate-nut spreads, Trader Joe’s makes an almond-chocolate spread that I love. Peanut butter works beautifully, so other nut butters should work. And I plan to try Biscoff one of these days.
have I convinced you?
If you love Nutella, chocolate, or hazelnuts, you need to try this pie. That jar of Nutella really proves its worth in this recipe, and there’s nothing better than having an icebox pie chilling in the fridge 🙂
more chocolate hazelnut recipes
- Nutella S’mores Bars
- Nutella Tiramisu
- Chocolate Hazelnut Buche de Noel Layer Cake
- Nutella Sandwich Cookies
- Chocolate Hazelnut Blondies
Dreamy Nutella Mousse Pie
Ingredients
for the cookie crust
- 9 ounce package chocolate wafer cookies
- 5 Tbsp unsalted butter
for the Nutella filling
- 8 ounces full fat cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread
- 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
for the topping
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, cold
- 1 Tbsp confectioner's sugar
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped roasted hazelnuts
Instructions
For the cookie crust
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Add the chocolate wafer cookies to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add the melted butter and pulse a few more times until evenly moistened.
- Transfer the cookie crumbs to a 9 inch deep dish pie plate. Using your fingers or a flat-bottomed cup measure, press the crumbs evenly into the bottom of the pan and up the sides, all the way to the top.
- Bake for 10 minutes, remove and allow to cool completely.
For the Nutella filling
- Wipe or rinse out your food processor, and add the cream cheese, Nutella, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt to the bowl. Process until smooth. Note: your cream cheese doesn't have to be room temperature if you are using a food processor here, but if you are using beaters or a stand mixer, you will want it to be softened so that you don't get any lumps.
- In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
- Add the whipped cream to the Nutella mixture, starting with a little bit to loosen it up, and fold together until there are no streaks.
- Pour the Nutella filling into the cooled pie crust, and smooth out the top.
- Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or preferably overnight. Note: the texture is on the soft side, so do make sure your pie is thoroughly chilled before slicing and serving.
For the topping
- Whip the cream and sugar until soft peaks form.
- Pile the whipped cream on top of the chilled pie, and sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts. Serve chilled.
Notes
- To toast hazelnuts, spread them on a dry baking sheet and toast in a 350F oven for about 10 minutes.
Nutrition
I am so excited to make this for Christmas, but I am still confused about the chocolate wafer situation (even after reading the Q&As so far). The recipe calls for a 9oz package of chocolate wafers. If I purchase Oreos, for ex, part of the 9 oz is the filling. So if I remove the filling from the Oreos, I don’t know how many Oreos I would need to complete the recipe.
Would you be able to share how many cups of ground chocolate wafer cookies we should expect to have after putting them into the food processor?
Go ahead and use the filling with the Oreos, that’s fine. Go with the 9 ounces. 9 ounces of another plain chocolate cookie will work, too. Could be shortbread or even graham crackers.
Perfect – thank you!! So excited to try it, thank you for the quick reply.
What a fabulous recipe! Not at all difficult to make, and I love that it should be made the day before. I left off the hazelnuts because I wanted it all to be smooth and creamy except the crust. For the crust, I ground up Annie’s chocolate bunny cookies, and that seemed to work very well. They were the only plain chocolate flavoured cookie that I could find. Thanks for yet another great recipe!
Very creative to use Annie’s chocolate bunnies for the crust!!
Hi I was wondering if the first two layers of this pie can be made in advance and frozen? Tried it and loved it and I’d like to make it again!
The pie should freeze well, short term especially. But I might wait to add the whipped cream topping until it has thawed.