How to Make the Ultimate Pie for Entertaining: Pumpkin-Nutella Pie
If you’re searching for a show-stopping pie to impress your guests this holiday season, look no further than this Pumpkin-Nutella Pie with Biscoff Crust. Everyone loves a good pumpkin pie, but we put our own spin on it by swirling ribbons of Nutella into the filling. The chocolate-hazelnut flavor pairs perfectly with the pumpkin and the warm fall spices in the Biscoff cookie crust. And, you won’t believe how easy it is to make!
Making the Crust
One thing that sets this pie apart from traditional pumpkin pie is the Biscoff cookie crust. Making a cookie crust is a much simpler process than rolling out a traditional pie dough made with flour and butter. Plus, it’s super tasty! To make a cookie crust “dough,” all you have to do is grind up cookies to a fine powder and then mix with melted butter. You can use either a food processor or a rolling pin to pulverize the cookies. Then, you press the mixture firmly into a pie pan using your hands or the back of a spoon or a measuring cup.
If you’ve never had them, Biscoff cookies, or speculoos cookies, are a similar texture to shortbread but are flavored with warm spices and have a deep caramelized flavor. They’re delicious, and their slightly spiced flavor perfectly complements this pumpkin pie filling. One 8.8-ounce package will give you the perfect amount of crumbs for one pie crust, so buy two if you plan on snacking!
You can use this same method to make all kinds of cookie crusts. Plain shortbread, graham crackers, and Oreos all work really well, too! Sometimes you’ll see pre-made graham cracker or Oreo cookie crusts in the grocery store, but we think it’s worth it to make your own. They come together super quickly and you can’t beat the buttery taste.
This recipe calls for pre-baking the pie crust slightly so that it doesn’t get soggy when you add the filling. Par-baking the crust ensures the crust will stay crisp after filling and baking. Make sure to let the crust fully cool before adding the filling, so it doesn’t break the filling.
Making the Filling
For the pumpkin pie filling, it’s important to beat egg whites well. Beating the egg whites to soft peaks helps to incorporate air which adds volume and makes the filling light and airy. For best results, you want the egg whites to be at room temperature. They incorporate air more easily this way, compared to eggs straight out of the refrigerator. Remove them from the fridge at least 20 minutes before whipping.
After you’ve combined the other ingredients for the filling and it’s time to add the whipped egg whites, be sure to just very gently fold the egg whites back in. If you mix too vigorously, you’ll end up deflating all of the air that you incorporated by beating the egg whites individually. Since there’s no leaving agent in this recipe (i.e. baking soda or baking powder), this pie recipe relies on the mechanical leavening method of whipping the egg whites for its fluffiness and silky-smooth texture.
Swirling with Nutella
First, melt the Nutella in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Warming up the Nutella makes it a slightly runnier consistency which makes it easier to incorporate smoothly into the pumpkin filling. You want the filling and the Nutella to be close to the same consistency when you combine them.
Now, for the swirling—have fun with it! It doesn’t need to be perfect. Much like an abstract painting, it will come out a little differently every time, and that’s just perfect. Place heaping tablespoons of Nutella evenly distanced apart, making sure to get some along the edges as well as in the center. Then, use a butter knife or a chopstick to make lines through the filling, swirling the Nutella into a paisley-like pattern. Don’t worry too much about what the pattern looks like. The most important thing to remember here is that less is more. Try not to overmix, or the colors will mix together rather than creating distinct swirls that are more visually appealing.
If you’re making this around Halloween, you can make the Nutella swirls into a spider web pattern by putting the warm Nutella in squeeze bottle and drawing concentric circles. Then, starting in the center, create lines with a butter knife or chopstick going outward like spokes of a wheel radiating from the center.
Baking & Cooling
After you’ve swirled in the Nutella, it’s time to bake your pie! It takes approximately 45 minutes to bake, but since all ovens are different, it may vary slightly, so it’s best to watch out for visual cues. The filling should be set, and only slightly jiggly in the middle. You can also test if the pie is done by inserting a butter knife or cake tester in the center—it should come out clean when the pie is done baking.
Then, let the pie cool completely before slicing! Unlike cakes or cookies that may cool down a little faster, dense custard-based pies like this one require at least 2 hours to cool to room temperature. You can also make the pie ahead of time and cool it in the refrigerator before slicing and serving.
Serving Tips
To get the cleanest, evenly sized slices of pie, we find it helps to lightly score the pie on top first with a large slicing knife to mark where you want to make your cuts. Then, use a smaller paring knife to make sure that you are making complete cuts. It also helps to wipe down the knife with a damp paper towel in between each cut. This will help keep the sides of the pie slices looking neat.
Finally, top each slice with a dusting of powdered sugar, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a dollop of whipped cream. This adds visual and textural interest to the dessert. And more importantly, it just makes it taste that much more delicious!
Try the Original Recipe from BigOven Kitchen
Pumpkin-Nutella Pie with Biscoff Crust
