Peanut Butter Cream Pie Recipe

Hi!

Alex's birthday was last week and I chose a recipe out of the Homemade Decadence cookbook (the December Birchbox Book Club book) to make!

Me with the birthday boy!

This time I made the Peanut Butter Cream Pie recipe...oh my goodness.  It's so good, and the recipe is not hard at all!



Here are Joy Wilson's exact recipes, one for the crust and one for the filling:

Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Directions:
1) Put a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
2) In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt.  Add the butter and stir with a fork until the mixture is thoroughly moistened.  The mixture will not form a dough ball, but will stay a crumby texture.
3) Dump the crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie dish and, using your fingers, evenly press the mixture along the bottom and sides of the dish.
4) Bake until the crust is slightly golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.  Remove the pie dish from the oven and let cool completely before filling.

Makes one 9-inch pie crust



Since the crust needs to be completely cool before filling, it would be good to make this a while before starting on the filling.  I'll do that next time!  Also, I'd take the cream cheese, used in the filling, out of the fridge a lot earlier so it can warm up a little bit more.

Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Ingredients:
Filling
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup smooth all-natural peanut butter
Graham Cracker Crust or Chocolate Cookie Crust

Whipped Cream Topping
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 confectioners' sugar

Optional Garnish
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanut butter cups (I used this)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped salted pretzels
2 ounces dark chocolate, melted

Directions:
1) For the filling, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream until it holds soft peaks, 4 to 5 minutes (it took a couple more minutes for me).  Transfer to a medium bowl.
2) In the same bowl of the electric mixer (you don't have to rinse it out) fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on  medium speed until smooth and pliable, about 3 minute.  Add brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and beat well.  Beat in the peanut butter until smooth.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in a quarter of the whipped cream.  Repeat twice with the remaining whipped cream until the mixture is well incorporated but still fluffy (the consistency of mine wasn't right so I ended up mixing it all together in the mixer for a minute or two).  Spoon the filling into the prepared crust.
3) For the whipped cream topping, in the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream and confectioners' sugar until it holds soft peaks, 4 to 5 minutes (again, a few minutes longer for me).  Top the pie with the whipped cream mixture.  Cover lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for ate least 4 hours before serving.
4) Just before serving, generously sprinkle with the chopped peanut butter cups or salted pretzels, or drizzle with melted chocolate.
5) The pie will last, well wrapped in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.

Makes one 9-inch pie











This turned out so so yummy!!  I've never made a pie like this...or actually, a pie at all, so this was really fun to try!  Alex loved it and he had a great birthday!  We had dinner at one of our fave places, Tavern on the Hill, and then came home for some pie!!



Thanks for reading!