It’s the last week of January and the past few days have been a lot warmer than it should’ve been. But apparently it’s supposed to get cold again mid February, which sounds good to me. I’d like to get another snow. There’s still a tiny bit of snow on the ground from weeks ago, but I just love the feeling of waking up to six inches of snow. It’s just so cozy and fun.
I always feel like people want to rush through January-March. I get it, they aren’t the most exciting months and they tend to be kind of bland and depressing. But people need to understand that Winter is a pretty great season. You just have to embrace the coziness instead of trying to make spring happen. Read the books, wear the sweaters, sip the tea.
And, hey, what’s anther great cozy winter activity? Baking! I feel like this time of year is perfect for baking because it can bring you some joy when you’re down, and you get the bonus of a cozy winter treat. So allow me to present this pie.
I’ll be honest, pie isn’t my favorite to eat or to bake. But I like this one, and so has anyone who’s had it so far. And it’s also fairly simple to make.
Describe This Pie to Me
Taste: This pie tastes like the yummiest, gooiest chocolate chip cookie you’ve ever had. Sweet brown sugar, nutty brown butter, warming espresso powder, and bittersweet chocolate all work together in this pie.
Texture: The crust is flakey and melt in your mouth buttery, which pairs perfectly with the gooey filling. The filling is kind of like a skillet cookie in pie form, and it stays perfectly moist by layering the batter with ripples of sweetened condensed milk.
Ease: I would say this pie is of medium difficulty. The crust is almost as simple as your typical pie crust, but you have to toast and grind up some hazelnuts. The filling is also fairly simple, brown some butter, mix it with eggs, sugar, flour, and espresso powder, then throw in some chocolate and layer it in your crust with a little sweetened condensed milk.
The Crust
This is a very classic and traditional pie crust, but with one little twist. This crust has ground up toasted hazelnuts. They don’t really change the texture much, but they do add this extra level of nuttiness that compliments the coffee and chocolate in the filling. Aside from the nuts, the crust is a simple mixture of flour, sugar, salt, cold butter, and buttermilk.
The Filling
This filling starts with brown butter, as all good cozy winter recipes should. It’s a mix of salted and unsalted butter for the perfect balance. We let that cool down before mixing it with eggs, flour, white and brown sugar, plenty of espresso powder and vanilla. For this recipe, make sure to use chocolate chunks instead of chips. They give you these little puddles of gooey melted chocolate. Layer that in your crust with some sweetened condensed milk, bake it, and serve this pie warm with vanilla ice cream!
Hazelnut Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 325℉. Spread the hazelnuts out on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes or until they're lightly toasted. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Keep the oven on.
- Place the toasted hazelnuts in a food processor and pulse until they reach a fine meal, similar to almond flour. Add the all purpose flour, sugar, and salt and pulse until just combined. Add the cold cubed butter and pulse to break up the butter into roughly pea sized crumbs.
- Pour the mixture into a large bowl. Add the buttermilk and use a spatula to fold the mixture together into a shaggy dough. Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured work surface and use your hands to bring the dough together. Then, using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 12 inch circle. Flip the dough every once in a while to make sure it isn't sticking. Carefully transfer the dough to a 9 inch pie plate and pinch/reshape any tears. Flute or crimp the edges if desired. Place the shaped pie crust in the freezer while you make the filling.
- Melt both the salted and unsalted butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once melted, the butter will sizzle and foam and you should begin stirring more frequently. Once the butter turns an amber brown, pour it into a bowl and place in the freezer to firm up some while you make the rest of the filling.
- In a large bowl using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs on medium speed until foamy, about two minutes. Add the flour, salt, granulated sugar, brown sugar, espresso powder, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Add the cooled and slightly solidified browned butter and mix to combine. It may look a little split, that's ok. Fold in the chocolate.
- Remove the crust from the freezer and spread roughly half of the sweetened condensed milk on the bottom. Spread half of the filling on top, and then drizzle the remaining sweetened condensed milk on top. Finally, spread the remaining filling on top.
- Bake at 325℉ for 45-55 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the filling appears set, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the pie cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting and enjoying warm.
- Pie stays fresh up to 4 days sealed at room temperature.