Forget Peanut Butter: This 3-Ingredient No-Bake Twist Takes Classic Cream Pies Up A Notch

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Peanut butter is a staple most of us have in our pantry, and it's a handy ingredient for desserts, too. Blending peanut butter with cream and sugar makes for an easy and delicious pie filling, as our no-bake peanut butter pie recipe shows. But you can leave peanut butter for your sandwiches and sauces, as Nutella is the swap that'll take your cream pie to the next level.

Where peanut butter teeters between sweet and savory, there's no mistaking Nutella is made for the sweet tooth. It's rich and chocolatey, and has a subtle nuttiness from the hazelnuts for a complex yet sweet flavor profile that peanut butter is lacking. It makes the perfect star ingredient to flavor a simple cream pie, and you only need a pie shell and heavy cream to make it. In her recipe for three-ingredient Nutella cream pie, Tasting Table staff member Jennine Rye blends whipped heavy cream and Nutella for a luxuriously silky pie filling that's ready in minutes. 

After spreading a layer of Nutella over the pie crust, you'll whip the cream into stiff peaks, folding it into the Nutella by the spoonful until the entire mixture is fully mixed and smooth. Then, the Nutella cream filling is spooned into the pre-made pie shell to set in the fridge. The whipping cream will add dairy richness to the nutty, chocolatey palate of the hazelnut spread while also making for the fluffier, lighter consistency characteristic of a good cream pie. You can whip up any extra cream to pipe over the finished pie filling for decoration.

While all you need is three ingredients for Jennine Rye's Nutella cream pie, you can always upgrade it even further with garnishes and complementary accompaniments. You can bring a fruity element to the pie by topping it with fresh banana slices, raspberries, or strawberries. Sprinkle toasted hazelnuts over the pie for crunch and to reinforce the flavor of the hazelnut spread. By the same token, you can play up the chocolate flavor by adorning the pie with shaved dark chocolate or a sprinkling of mini chocolate chips. Top the dollops of whipped cream with Ferrero Rocher chocolate truffles for an especially decadent, creamy, and crunchy garnish.

While Rye's recipe uses heavy cream to make homemade whipping cream, you can also bypass this with Cool Whip. You'll still have a three-ingredient recipe, but the Cool Whip saves you a step and makes it even easier. Just be aware that homemade whipped cream is infinitely fresher tasting than Cool Whip, but this is an option if you're prioritizing convenience.

Another store-bought swap that will upgrade a Nutella cream pie is a flavored pre-made crust. Instead of a standard pie crust, you could use an Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie Pie Crust, available from Walmart, for a richer chocolate dessert. You can also complement the sweet chocolate flavor of the filling with a salty pretzel crust, and Keebler makes a store-bought Pretzel Ready Crust. Finish off a pretzel crust Nutella cream pie with a garnish of crushed chocolate covered pretzels and a drizzle of microwaved Nutella.