Coffee Cream Pie with a Chocolate Tart Crust and Hazelnuts

This coffee cream pie has a mousse-like filling infused with espresso powder, a buttery chocolate crust and chopped hazelnuts. If you love coffee, you’ll absolutely love the no bake coffee cream filling in this pie. It’s creamy and light, with a nice balance of sweetness and bitterness from the coffee, and just delicious paired with the crunchy hazelnuts. For a nut free coffee tart, you could finish the top with dark chocolate shavings or crushed chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Looking for other recipes like this one? You’ll love this no churn coffee chocolate chip ice cream, espresso coffee cake muffins, and chocolate espresso cake.

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Why You’ll Love This Pie

Easy to Make. The chocolate crust is simple to make, since you just mix up a crumb mixture, press it into the pan, and bake it briefly. And the filling is pretty much a no-bake coffee cheesecake, which comes together quickly and easily, and needs nothing more than to set in the refrigerator.

Not Too Sweet. With the bitterness of the espresso powder, the sweetness is nicely balanced for a dessert with a strong coffee flavor that doesn’t end up being tooth-achingly sweet.

Stays Fresh for Days. You can make this coffee cream tart the night before and serve it the next day. It’ll stay fresh in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 days.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Crust

• Flour. All-purpose flour gives the crust structure and strength.
• Sugar. Adds sweetness. I prefer the finer texture of powdered sugar in this crust, but you can also use white granulated sugar.
• Cocoa Powder. Unsweetened cocoa powder gives the crust a rich chocolate flavor and deep color. You can use either natural or Dutch-processed, but I suggest choosing a mild cocoa powder, as the extra dark ones can be too bitter in a chocolate crust.
• Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Butter. Gives the crust a rich, buttery flavor.
• Milk. Binds the crust together.
• Egg White. Helps to seal the crust to keep it from getting soggy with the creamy filling.

TIP: The heavy whipping cream in the filling should be cold, but let the cream cheese come to room temperature before making the filling. Cold cream cheese will make your filling lumpy.

Filling

• Heavy Whipping Cream. You need to high fat content of heavy whipping cream in this no bake filling, which makes it light, airy and creamy, like coffee mousse.
• Espresso Powder. Look for a fine espresso powder or instant coffee powder to give this tart its coffee flavor.
• Gelatin. Unflavored powdered gelatin sets the filling as it chills so it doesn’t need to be baked.
• Cream Cheese. The cream cheese adds a little tang to balance the sweetness. You can also use mascarpone cheese
• Powdered Sugar. It’s important to use powdered sugar since this is a no-bake filling, and you need the sugar to dissolve easily.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Hazelnuts. A sprinkling of chopped hazelnuts on top adds crunch, and the nutty flavor is so good with the coffee.

Instructions

Crust

• In a bowl, combine the flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt.
• Add the butter, and use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter until the mixture is moist and crumbly, and the butter pieces are smaller than peas.
• Add the milk, and toss with a spoon to combine, then use your hands to rub the moisture into the crumbs. Stop when the crumbs are moist enough that you can squeeze them together in your hand.
• Dump the crumbs into your pie pan or tart pan, and press them firmly and evenly against the bottom and up the sides of the pan.
• Freeze the crust for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the frozen crust with a piece of parchment paper, and fill the paper with pie weights, dried beans or rice. Bake for 25 minutes. (To ensure the paper doesn’t stick to the crust, spray the bottom of the paper with non-stick baking spray before placing it against the frozen crust.)
• Carefully, remove the pie weights and the paper. Brush the crust lightly with the egg white, return it to the oven, and bake for another 10-12 minutes, until baked through.
• Set aside to cool while you make the filling.

TIP: Either a stand mixer or a hand-held electric mixer works equally well for whipping the filling.

Filling

• Pour 1/2 cup of the cream into a microwaveable dish. Stir in the espresso powder and stir until dissolved. Stir in the gelatin, then let stand for 5 minutes. Microwave the cream for 45-60 seconds until hot, then stir to completely dissolve the gelatin. Set aside.
• With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Gradually stream in the remaining 1 cup of cold heavy whipping cream, and beat until thick.
• Add the hot cream/espresso/gelatin mixture, and beat until smooth and well combined.
• Spread the filling into the cooled crust. Refrigerate until completely set, about 5-6 hours.
• Before serving, sprinkle with the hazelnuts.

Recipe Variations

• Instead of the cream cheese or mascarpone cheese in the filling, you can use unflavored Greek yogurt or plain vanilla yogurt. Since the yogurt is more sour, you may need to add a little more powdered sugar.
• If you don’t want to add the hazelnuts on top, you can sprinkle on some good-quality chopped chocolate or chocolate curls, or even chopped chocolate-covered espresso beans.
• For a coffee custard filling, try this custard tart recipe with espresso powder cooked into the custard.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a way to make this without the gelatin?

You could try leaving out the gelatin, but the tart will have a softer set and might not slice as cleanly.

Will this recipe work with a graham cracker crust?

Of course.

Where can I find espresso powder?

I use Medaglia D’Oro Instant Espresso Coffee, and it’s great for both baking as well as making a cup of instant coffee to drink. It has a strong, rich flavor, and is available at many major grocery stores. 3 tablespoons made the filling too strong for my taste so I had to add more sugar, but 2 – 2 1/2 tablespoons adds a nice coffee flavor.

How long does this pie stay fresh?

Stored in the refrigerator, it will stay fresh for about 3 days.

Do I need to use a tart pan?

A tart pan with a removable bottom makes it easier to cut clean slices with a pretty fluted edge. However, you could also make this tart in a deep-dish pie pan, and just cut it like a coffee cream pie.

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