Gianduja Pie with Rice Krispie Crust - Second Helpings #20

A chocolate lovers dream

What does easter baking mean to you? To me it basically means two things, chocolate and hot cross buns. Yes, sure, you could also say Simnel cake, but as much as I like it, I almost never actually make one myself. I’ve got you covered with Hot Cross Buns, so I thought it was only fair I gave you something ridiculously decadent, and over the top, for the long easter weekend ahead. Something that it packed full of chocolate goodness but not too taxing to make. This pie looks a little bit fancy but in reality its pretty simple, and comes with a big dose of nostalgia.

The base for the pie couldn’t be simpler. If you made rice krispie cakes as a kid you’ve made the base. I wanted something super textural, but also incredibly easy. Enter rice krispie cakes. To create a crust that holds together really well and is a little more compacted than traditional rice krispie cakes, the cereal is lightly crushed before it is mixed with a mixture of chocolate and butter, but otherwise it is the same rice krispie cake mixture served at every kids birthday party.

The filling is the the opposite of the crust, silky and unctuous, it is made with milk chocolate and hazelnut paste to give the flavour of gianduja. For the hazelnut paste you can either use a homemade paste (simply roasted hazelnuts ground in a food processor until smooth and creamy) but for this recipe I would splash out and buy some shop bought paste. Why? Simply because it will be smoother than anything you can make at home, and the silky texture of this filling is part of why it’s so special. You can buy either ‘hazelnut paste’ or ‘hazelnut butter’, they’re basically same thing with different names. Both are made with 100% roasted hazelnuts, the difference comes in how smooth they are. Hazelnut ‘butter’ tends to be sold in small jars alongside peanut butter in fancy supermarkets or health food stores (super easy to find online too), just make sure it is the smooth variety. Hazelnut ‘paste’ is an ingredient pastry chefs use and it will be the smoothest version of this ingredient you’ll find. The problem with the paste is that it tends to be sold in much larger amounts which means it can be expensive to buy, plus you then have loads leftover (this may not be a problem, depending on your perspective).