Grown Up & Glammed Up Eskimo Pie

A few weeks ago I received a call from Lynne, the President of How2Heroes, asking if I could give the classic Eskimo Pie a makeover.  I thought about it for all of about two seconds and then jumped at the chance.  I love projects, and more importantly I love a good makeover!  

A few days later somewhere during the fifth mile of my run, it hit me, Nutella!  I knew if Nutella was going to be involved, then Frangelico needed to get in on this too!  I really liked where this dessert was going, and couldn't wait to start making the different components.

The first thing I did was make my Frangelico ice cream to really glam up the dessert.  Just to warn you, this ice cream has a habit of disappearing very quickly ;)  The second thing I did was make Nutella ganache using Callebaut dark chocolate.  The ganache was so good, I can only describe it as ridiculous!  To put the pie together I made an oreo cookie crust, topped it with a heaping spoon of Nutella, and then added a scoop of Frangelico ice cream.  I covered the pie in Nutella ganache, and topped it with toasted hazelnuts and sea salt.  The outcome was pure decadence!  The sea salt really pulls the whole dessert together and completes the dish.  It's kind of like the perfect accessory to a fabulous outfit!

Frangelico Ice Cream

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup half & half
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 2t. vanilla bean paste
• 5T. Frangelico

1. Bring heavy cream, half & half, and sugar to a simmer.
2. Whisk yolks a vanilla bean paste together in a bowl and slowly add in hot cream mixture whisking constantly.  
3. Once you whisk in about half the cream mixture, transfer everything back into the pot.
4. Cook over low heat stirring constantly till thickened, about 2 minutes.
5. Strain and add Frangelico
6. Refrigerate and process according to manufacturer's directions.

Oreo Cookie Crust

• 1/2 pack oreo cookies (approx. 1 & 1/2 cups crumbs)
• 4T. unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix cookie crumbs and butter.
3. Place 2T. crumb mixture in each muffin mold/mini pie tin, pressing into bottom and sides.
4. Bake for 5-6 minutes.

Nutella Ganache

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate
• 4T. Nutella
• 1T. light corn syrup

1. Bring heavy cream to a scald. Pour over chocolate and stir to melt.
2. Add nutella and corn syrup.

Assembly

• 8T. Nutella
• 1/2 cup lightly toasted hazelnuts
• sea salt

1. Spoon 1T. of Nutella in the bottom of each cooled cookie crust.
2. Place 1 scoop of ice cream on top and freeze to firm up, about 15 minutes.
3. Spoon Nutella ganache over the ice cream.
4. Sprinkle with hazelnuts and sea salt.