Brownie Nutella Mousse Pie

Okay, so I obviously know I have been a horrible blogger for WAY TOO LONG!  In my defense, I'm in the middle of a career change and things have been a little crazy.....I am now officially certified by the state of Illinois to be an elementary school teacher (quite a big change from working in finance and accounting)!  I recently finished student teaching in a wonderful 2nd grade classroom, and I'm actually lucky enough to be going back to that classroom at the end of April as a long-term sub since my cooperating teacher will be out on maternity leave so I'm super excited about that :)  Now I just have to get a full-time teaching job for next school year....fingers crossed!

Anyway, yes I have been a horrible blogger, but the good news is that I've been taking pictures of all the good stuff I've been making over the last 6+ months (and keeping track of the recipes I used) so I have lots of great recipes to update my blog with now (PS - I have to give a quick shout-out to the Megans for giving me some extra motivation to start updating this blog again via my facebook wall haha!).

To start my blog back up, I decided to post an AMAZING dessert that I made just the other day to celebrate Kevin's upcoming birthday.  This dessert is called Brownie Nutella Mousse Pie....and OH MY GAWD....it was so yummy!  I came across this recipe on this really great blog called, Sing For Your Supper.  Do you like Nutella?  Well, I love it so I knew I had to try this one out.  It was super easy, and it was absolutely delicious.  The brownie part makes it pretty rich so you can only eat a small piece in one sitting (which is probably a good thing), but I seriously wanted to eat the mousse topping in giant spoonfuls.  Give this a try, and I promise you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked
1 box brownie mix (you could use homemade, but I was way too lazy for that)
5 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup Nutella, plus more for drizzling
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Make the brownie batter according the the box directions, and pour it into a prepared pie crust.  Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let it cool completely.

Using a mixer (love my kitchenaid mixer!), whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Transfer the whipped cream to another bowl and set aside.

In the same mixer bowl, mix the Nutella and softened cream cheese until well combined.  Spoon in about 1/3 of the whipped cream and gently fold it in.  Repeat with the remaining whipped cream- be careful to fold it in and not overstir it so it stays flufy.  Chill the mousse until the brownie layer is completely cooled.

When the pie is cooled, spread the Nutella mousse evenly over the brownie layer.  Drizzle with some extra Nutella (this works best if you warm the Nutella first).  Here's a picture of my whole pie....so good!

Source:  Sing For Your Supper