Summer Pies

Time for cool desserts. Here are some fairly easy summer pies.

We love Nutella on toast for breakfast, but it also makes great pies.

Nutella Pie
1 chocolate nut crust
3/4 cup toasted and skinned hazelnuts or filberts
1 1/2 cup whipping cream, chilled
teaspoon vanilla
13 ounce jar of Nutella

Chop hazelnuts very finely. Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Whip in vanilla. Place Nutella in a mixing bowl. Gently fold in one quarter of the whipped cream. Gently fold this combination into the remaining whipped cream. Fold in the chopped hazelnuts. Scrape the filling into the prepared pie shell. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the filling is set, at least six hours, up to a day.

Chocolate Nut Crust
22 Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers ( about 1 cup crumbs)
1/2 cup pecans, walnuts, blanched almonds or hazelnuts
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cookies and nuts in food processor and process until they are finely ground. Combine all ingredients until the crumb mixture is moist. Press the mixture evenly on the bottom and sides of a nine-inch pie pan. Press firmly to make it firm and compact. Bake 6 to 8 minutes until crisp. Cool completely before filling.

Frozen Milky Way Pie
1 nine-inch cookie-nut crust pie shell (made with pecans)
12 1/2 ounces good milk chocolate
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
Caramel Sauce

Combine cholate and cocoa in a mixing bowl. Bring the heavy cream just to a boil over low heat. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate mixture and let the mixture stand for 5 minutes. Whisk it until it is smooth.Pour the chocolate misture through a fine sieve into the prepared pie shell. Let the filling stand for 15 minutes. Stir the nuts into the caramel sauce. Drop the caramel and nut mixture by heaping tablespoons across the top of the pie and swirl the filling with a knife to create a marbling effect. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and freeze it until the filling is set, at least 6 hours, up to a day.

Caramel Sauce
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons dark rum

Combine the suagr and water in a heavy saucepan. Bring the pot to a boil and continue to boil the mixture until it turns a light amber. Do not stir. When the syrup is a uniform amber color, stir in the heavy cream. The cream will bubble. When the bubbling has subsided, stir in the rum and let sauce cool.