Oh yes! The post you’ve all been waiting for! Well, those of you who are my friends on facebook anyway. Yesterday I posted an iPhone picture of the Peanut Butter Pie that I made for my husband’s birthday, and let me tell you, it was scrumptious! I think I gained about 5 lbs just looking at it! And from the noises our friends were making when they were eating it, I would say it was a hit.
I made this pie for the first time right after I read this post about another food blogger’s husband’s sudden passing. It touched my heart, and that recipe looked too good not to make. Plus, we were having some friends over that night, so I figured I would test the recipe on them. Unfortunately I didn’t have all the ingredients I needed, such as semi-sweet chocolate chips (or so I thought….I later found a huge bag of them in my pantry), and I completely ruined the whipped cream by whipping it so much that it almost turned into butter, so I had to resort to whipped cream from a can. Luckily, the second try turned out so much better, and here is the recipe and tutorial, so that you can also gain 5 lbs in one bite!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 8 oz chocolate cookies (I used Oreos®)
- 4 tbsp butter, melted (1/2 a stick)
- 4 oz finely chopped chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup chopped peanuts (unsalted)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup creamy-style peanut butter
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Start by putting your cookies into a food processor. I have a rather small food processor, so I had to do this in about 3-4 batches. The bag of Oreos I got was 16oz, so I just used half of them to equal 8oz. Of course if you want your crust a little thicker, you can add more accordingly.
Pulse until finely chopped with no big chunks left. Then pour the crumbs into a medium bowl.
Melt butter, and pour over crumbs.
Use a fork to combine the butter and crumbs so that it is thoroughly saturated.
Press into a 9 inch spring-form pan so that the bottom is completely covered and flat, and press up the sides about an inch.
Put chocolate chips into a heat proof bowl and microwave to melt. You can also use the double boiler method, but microwaving was faster.
Spread melted chocolate onto the crust. Mine came apart a little, but that’s ok. It might help if you refrigerate your crust, or put it in the freezer while you’re melting your chocolate so it has some time to set.
Add peanuts to the food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
Sprinkle a generous amount over the chocolate, and reserve some for the topping. Refrigerate crust while you prepare the rest of the pie.
Add cream cheese and peanut butter to a stand mixer.
Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add confectioner’s sugar and stir on low at first until it’s combined, then you can increase the speed. If you start out too fast, you’ll end up with sugar all over your kitchen. Of course that’s never happened to me!
Next, add the sweetened condensed milk.
Vanilla Extract.
And lemon juice, and stir on medium speed until well combined. You can use fresh squeezed lemon juice, but this is what I had on hand.
Pour heavy cream into a medium bowl.
Beat it with a hand mixer until it looks like this. Do NOT keep going thinking it could be a little stiffer. I made that mistake, and let me tell you, it was not pretty. It started to curdle and separate and before I knew it, chunks of butter were starting to form. It should be light and fluffy and not at all liquidy or chunky.
Add about 1/3 of the whipped cream to the peanut butter mixture and stir on low.
Gently fold in remaining whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Do not mix it in with the mixer. You want to keep it as light and airy as possible.
Here’s what it should look like when it’s all combined.
Pour peanut butter filling onto the cold crust.
Smooth it out so it’s nice and pretty.
Drizzle some melted chocolate onto the top. If you need the chocolate to be a little more runny, add a tablespoon of vegetable shortening, and melt in with the chocolate. You can also add chopped peanuts to the outer edge of the pie to give it that fresh from the bakery look. Steve said that it looked like a pie from Marie Callendars! 🙂
Refrigerate pie for at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight for best results.
When ready to serve, lift the bottom out of the spring form pan. Isn’t that gorgeous!?
Serve it up, and enjoy!!!! You may want to eat this with a glass of milk nearby. It’s super rich!
