Meg’s Nutella Ice Box Pie

She’s back! My go to resource for all things gluten free has shared another phenomenal dessert with my readers. Meg Anderson-King a/k/a my gluten free goddess, stopped by last year to share her recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are dangerously good. I knew once she told me she had another dessert to share it would be nothing short of phenomenal. Her new dessert is easy to make and sure to please any guests at your Independence Day celebrations. Forget the red, white and blue desserts. This pie may not look as pretty (thanks to the crazy humidity in my kitchen) but as Meg points out it is slap yo mama good.

Welcome Meg Anderson-King back to La Phemme Phoodie!

My parents were foodies long before the word, or the debate pertaining to the term, existed. They threw elaborate dinner parties with exotic foods for their like-minded friends. I still remember coming home from school to find my mother scrubbing a lifeless suckling pig in my bathtub as part of the prep for their next Supper Club. They frequented the gourmet shop in the state capital and would return with all manner of esoteric food stuffs. One such memorable find was Nutella. This was many years ago, at a time when it was not easily had. We ate it straight out of the jar, and my eight year old self was convinced it was heaven on earth.

Lest you think that we dined on escargot on a nightly basis, let me assure you that we enjoyed more pedestrian fare. One of my favorite summer treats was Cool Whip Pie. Melt six chocolate bars, fold said bars into a tub of Cool Whip and spread mixture in a graham cracker pie crust. Voila, Cool Whip Pie! We made it often enough to know that it was always better when we used a candy bar that had nuts, as it gave the pie some much needed crunch. I revisited it as an adult in the form of The Blue Willow Inn’s Peanut Butter Pie. It had a few more ingredients, but the appeal was the same. It was light, and sweet, and cool. I always felt that something was missing, yet, I could never quite figure out what it needed.

Well, I have figured it out. Salt. It needed salt. And vanilla. Those are pretty much my go to fixes for all sweets. I had my foodie family over to dinner the other evening, and having spent two days cooking and prepping, I was in no mood for a complicated dessert. I kept hemming and hawing, when it dawned on me. Nutella plus Tru-Whip = Perfection.  It would also give me a chance to make a pie crust using Udi’s snickerdoodle cookies. Two birds with one stone, and all of that.

Now, the best laid plans of mice and Meg’s often go awry. I stalked the Udi’s rack at my local Kroger for four days running to no avail. Fortunately, I tend to hoard gluten free baking supplies, and happened to have a box of Kinnikinnick  Gluten-Free Graham Cracker Crumbs in the pantry. What I didn’t have was enough white sugar, so I improvised.