Frozen Peanut Butter Pie
Peanut Butter Pie is a frozen dessert that my mother-in-law introduced me to, which was a good thing, because it’s one of my husband’s favorite desserts! You can use a store-bought, pre-made graham cracker crust, but I prefer to make my own crust using a blend of grahams and Biscoff cookies. (Just FYI, the Lotus brand also sells “Cookie Butter” which is a terrific product smeared onto sandwiches or onto a banana, or gosh, just eaten out of the jar with a spoon!)
Use a good-quality brand because you really want the peanut butter to shine in this dessert! And do not use peanut butter with standing oil in the canister. It will not work as well.
When I make one of these frozen pies for our family of 5, it usually doesn’t last long. Honestly, just the look on my husband’s face when I say, “There’s a peanut butter pie in the freezer,” makes me so happy to be his wife and so happy I can make him happy. Love those moments. Food is my love language.
Since the pie is frozen, you’ll need to plan ahead so it’s perfectly frozen when it’s time to serve. If you’re interested in the original recipe without all the flair, see below in “Notes.” I have no idea where this recipe came from, or I would give honor to where honor is due. Maybe you have seen or used a recipe similar to this. I’d love to hear from you if you have any insight into the roots of this recipe.
I bake my crust because I want that toasted flavor. You do not need to bake it; it’s just my preference. Mix and press the crust into the pie plate as directed, but don’t bake it. It’s that simple.
FYI, I have not made this recipe using anything other than full-fat ingredients.
Enjoy!
Frozen Peanut Butter Pie
Equipment
- 9" deep dish pie plate
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups (170g) cookie crumbs, I use half graham crackers and half Biscoff cookies, see Notes
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
Filling:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, very cold
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
- 8 ounces cream cheese, full-fat, room temperature
- 1/2 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy, see Notes
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ganache/Topping:
- 4 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 16 individual regular-size peanut butter cups (336g), chopped
Instructions
- If you are baking the crust, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whip the heavy cream and ¼ cup of the confectioners’ sugar until stiff peaks. Refrigerate until ready to fold into filling.
- Process the cookies and sugar until coarse crumbs. Add the butter and pulse until the crumbs and butter are coming together and barely looks dry.
- Dump the cookie crumbs into the dish and press the cookies evenly on the bottom and up the sides of the dish. A flat-bottomed glass, a spoon, or your fingers work well.
- If you are baking the crust, bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned and smelling fragrant. Remove from the oven to completely cool. If you are not pre-baking the crust, place the newly-pressed crust into the freezer until ready to use.
- Place the paddle attachment on a stand mixer. (Alternatively, you can use a hand-held mixer.) In the mixer bowl, add the cream cheese and whip on medium speed until smooth.
- Add the peanut butter and whip again on medium until the two ingredients are combined.
- Add the remaining cup of confectioner’ sugar, milk, and vanilla. Begin on low speed, gradually working up to medium, whipping the ingredients together until all combined.
- Remove the bowl from the stand and fold in the whipped cream. A silicone spatula works very well for this step. Leave some white streaks of whipped cream for aesthetics.
- Scrape the filling into the cooled crust. You can either smooth out the top or create peaks with the mixture. Freeze for about 2 hours before gently laying a piece of plastic wrap over the top to finish freezing completely through, about 6 hours.
- Make the ganache. In a microwave-safe bowl or 2-cup measuring cup, heat the heavy cream until very hot, but not boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and allow it to stand for 3 minutes.
- Stir the mixture until the ganache is smooth. Drizzle the ganache over the frozen pie. It will set fairly quickly because the pie is frozen. If you smoothed out the top of your pie, you can use a spoon or offset metal spatula and smooth out the ganache.
- Immediately top with the chopped Reese’s candies so that they can settle into the soft ganache. If you have any ganache left over, you can drizzle over the candies.
- The pie should be frozen enough to serve immediately. Or, you can place it back into the freezer to stiffen the ganache.
- If serving hours or days later, gently wrap in plastic wrap and then double aluminum foil and place in the freezer.
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