Pumpkin Pie

I love the fall for many reasons. One is that Memphis weather is beautiful in the fall, especially in October, another is that I love when the leaves change colors and yet another reason is pumpkin pie. I have a recipe for pumpkin pie that includes the best food product ever manufactured by man: Nutella. I made the Nutella pumpkin pie last night. The chocolate hazelnut flavor along with the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spices make this so, so very good. I'm sure there are people out there who use real pumpkin (i.e. not canned) and who manage to make homemade pie crust. I'm not one of those people. I like short cuts when they make sense and they seem to make sense here.

Nutella Pumpkin Pie

1 14oz can pumpkin

1 cup sweetened condensed milk, divided

2 egg yolks

2 whole eggs

1/2 cup Nutella

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 frozen deep dish pie crust (thawed)

Preheat oven to 375. Mix Nutella, eggs yolks and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk together. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake for 25 - 30 minutes until set - this will look like a brownie. In the meantime mix the remaining sweetened condensed milk, 2 whole eggs, pumpkin and 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice together. Gently spoon the pumpkin mixture over the brownie layer of the pie and continue to bake for 35 - 40 minutes.

If you've never had Nutella before you can find it next to the peanut butter in any grocery store in town.