Peanut Butter Cream Pie

I was highly skeptical the first time I saw this recipe, but thought I'd give it a try anyway. Oh. My. God. it's good! If you like peanut butter at all, you are going to love it. A specialty of The Brewhouse in Santa Barbara, I wish I had known about this place when I lived up there. I would have been there every weekend. It's like peanut-butter fluff resting on a chocolate cookie.

I'm including the crust recipe, but I've always used a store-bought Oreo crust. The flavor of the filling is not intensely peanut-buttery, and having strong peanut butter in the crust may upset the balance. Plus, then I'd end up eating all the white stuff, since you don't put that in the crust.

As for measuring the peanut butter, I suggest one of those push-up adjustable measuring cups that Alton Brown is so fond of using. Those are good for measuring any sticky ingredient, and make clean-up easy. And you know that the amount you measured has actually made it into the product.

This is also an excellent last-minute dessert. If you buy a crust and use a 16 oz container of Cool Whip instead of whipped cream (decrease sugar to 1-1/4 C), it literally takes five minutes to make. You could put it in the crust as the first guest arrives, and it will be set by dessert time.

Crust

1-1/2 C Oreo cookie crumbs

1/4 C creamy peanut butter

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Combine cookie crumbs and peanut butter and mix well.

2. Press mixture into a 9" pie pan. Bake until set, 7 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling

8 oz cream cheese, softened

*1/2 C peanut butter

1-3/4 C powdered sugar

2 C whipping cream

1. Beat together the cream cheese, peanut butter, and powdered sugar until smooth. I recommend the paddle of a stand mixer, to make cleaning easier.

2. In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Fold it into the peanut butter mixture until smooth. Pour into pie crust. Chill about 3 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

Serves 8

Difficulty rating  π