Peanut Butter Pie

I should warn you: This is rich and creamy and awesome. It's like a cross between a cheesecake or a mousse--a no cook sort of cheesecake. After I made it the first time, I craved it for weeks. I should warn you also that it is one of those desserts about which some people might say, "Oh, it is just too rich." Yeah, yeah--go back to your asparagus sticks already (not that there's anything wrong with asparagus). But it is rich. My kids couldn't finish the tiny slices I gave them. So just be warned.

The good news (besides it being completely awesome) is that it is also really easy. Or maybe that's more bad news considering how many calories it has. At any rate, it's only going to cost you about 10-20 minutes of effort. For awesome. I think that's a pretty good deal.

The other good news is that it freezes really really well. So you can have a little sliver and then just freeze the rest in a controlled and disciplined fashion. The bad news is that it might taste even better frozen than it does refrigerated. It does not freeze into a hard rock of a thing. It freezes into a cold, firm, super creamy thing that is even more pure awesomeness and that doesn't need thawing and that therefore inspires lots and lots of impulse spoonfuls when you think no one is looking (the reason that the above picture is of the whole pie and not a lovely little slice is that I froze the slices and then managed to eat all the edges off of them--I have an edges problem--so they're little crustless, uneven pieces of pie now).


Peanut Butter Pie
adapted from Betcha Can't Eat Just One
Serves 12 smallish slices
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes (for crust)
Cool time: 4 hours
Cost: $4.70 (this is between $.50 and $.40/serving--not bad)
generic Oreos: 1.50, butter: .15, cream cheese: 1.00, peanut butter: .65, powdered sugar: .40, cream: 1.00

For Crust:

2 C Oreo crumbs (I used Great Value "Oreos" to good effect--this took just over a half package)
1/4 C melted butter

For Peanut Butter Mousse:

1 8-oz package cream cheese at room temperature (or slightly softened in the microwave)
2/3 C smooth peanut butter
2 C powdered sugar
1 Tbsp milk
1 tub Cool Whip (note: I don't like Cool Whip all that much, so I made real whipped cream--I used about 1 C cream and whipped it to stiff peaks)

For the Crust:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix Oreo crumbs with melted butter. Press into pie pan. Note: I used a food processor to pulverize my crumbs. This worked out nicely because I could then later use the food processor to mix the first 4 ingredients of my peanut butter mousse part.

Bake 10-15 minutes. Cool.

For the Peanut butter mousse:

Combine cream cheese and peanut butter. (I wiped out my food processor and used it to do this, but you can use a mixer as well.) Then add the powdered sugar and then the milk.

Whip cream if using.

Fold whipped cream (or Cool Whip) into peanut butter mixture. Keep folding. It takes several minutes to get it all folded together, but it's worth it. Note: To fold it in, plop in a little whipped cream and sort of turn the mixture over, stir and turn, stir and turn. Then add more cream and continue.  Note: Folding is a hassle. It takes much longer than just mixing with mixers, but you should still do it with this recipe. The first time I made it I got sick of folding and just used the beaters, but my pie (while still delicious) had a slightly bumpy, weird texture. If you fold and fold and fold some more, you will have a lovely creamy perfect texture and you will be happy.

Add this to the crust (It's going to be a lot.)

Chill for at least three hours. (Or freeze it--you won't regret it.)

PRINTABLE RECIPE