Weekend Cooking...You Can Never Have Too Much Chocolate

Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads "is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs."

Today I am going to share a recipe I recently saw on Giada De Laurentiis's show on Food TV. I made it with a few changed after I read the reviews of the recipe on the Food TV site, and it had three great things about it. It is easy. It is delicious. It is chocolate!!

She baked her's in a pie plate..I poured mine into one of those pre-made chocolate pie crusts, in this case an Oreo brand one, because easier is better and more chocolate is better. I added the cocoa powder..because more chocolate is again better! And I added a touch of salt because all baked things need a touch of salt to bring out the flavor. I also added the coffee powder, an idea I got from the Barefoot Contessa, who claims a little coffee really brings out the chocolate flavor, without giving a coffee taste. Since I had no hazelnuts but did have pecans in the freezer, pecans it was!

It looks, once baked, like a brownie pie, but actually has a softer, lighter texture. Giada uses a food processor but you can also make it in a blender and it only takes a couple of minutes to put together.

Hazelnut and Chocolate Pie:

• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup hazelnuts, skinned and toasted
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more to dust the pie dish
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 4 eggs
• 1 stick butter, cut into 3/4-inch pieces, at room temperature, plus more to grease the pie dish
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/s teaspoon instant coffee powder
  
• 1-2 TBS cocoa power
  

Vanilla Cream:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Position an oven rack in the lower 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
Put 1/2 of the chocolate chips, hazelnuts, and flour in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the hazelnuts are coarsely chopped. Pour the hazelnut mixture into a small bowl and set aside. Combine remaining chocolate chips and sugar in the food processor. Blend until the mixture is finely ground. With the machine running, gradually add the hot water until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Add the eggs, butter, vanilla, salt, coffee, cocoa powder and cinnamon. Pulse until mixture is blended. Return the hazelnut mixture to the food processor and pulse just to incorporate. Pour the mixture into a buttered and floured 9-inch pie dish or the pre-made chocolate crumb crust.
Bake for 35 minutes.

Place the pie on a cooling rack and cool for 1 hour. (Top may crack during cooling.) Refrigerate for 2 hours. (Pie can be made 1 day in advance and stored in the refrigerator). Allow the pie to return to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

To make the Vanilla Cream:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream until it forms soft peaks. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Continue to beat until cream holds stiff peaks.
To serve: Cut the pie into slices and dollop with the Vanilla Cream.

Of course, you could serve it with ice cream instead of the whipped cream..or even plain. Not that I suggest that!