Shortbread crust. A layer of creamy peanut butter filling. Topped with a mountain of chocolate whipped cream. And chocolate shavings. Because, we're so fancy, you already know. Did I mention No-Bake?

I first made this pie with a pretzel crust. The salty sweetness really off-set the creamy full-bodied mouth feel of the layers well. Yes, sometimes I describe dessert and food like wine. It just works so well. But if you ever catch me saying "I prefer the '98 vintage of this cheesecake" or something along that line, I might have taken it too far. Ew, rancid cheesecake. Anyway...

The next time I made this pie was in Italy. Pretzels do exist here, but they have a very strange texture. Think pretzels that went stale and chewy and then got so stale they got crispy again, almost. But still a little chewy. And don't chop well in a food processor. It took over 8 minutes to get them partly broken up. The crust was still good, but it looked more like a bird's nest of pretzel sticks than a uniform crust.

Oh hey, Thanksgiving pie. And there is Lucia the poinsettia in the background. Good times, good times.

Regardless, all the Americans in Italy are so peanut butter deprived that everyone loved it. In fact, two days later was Thanksgiving and it was requested of me to make and bring this pie to Thanksgiving dinner. Not pecan pie. Not pumpkin pie. Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Whipped Cream. With a delicious but slightly strange looking crust.

When I made the pie this time, I used shortbread cookies with great success. The Italian supermarkets have practically a whole aisle devoted to all their different kinds of shortbread cookies, called frollini. A nice big 800g bag for 1.5-2.5 euros? Hehe don't mind if I do. Shortbread with cream, or chocolate and stars, buckwheat, almond, almond and chocolate, hazelnut, stuffed with apricot, stuffed with chocolate, coarse sugar-topped, made with egg, chocolate drops...the varieties go on.

Someday I will share with you the pretzel crust, but when I have access again to pretzels that behave in a food processor and I can get some decent photos. But until then, get your hands on some shortbread cookies. You could make some homemade (classic shortbread consists of just 3 ingredients: flour, butter, sugar) or if you're in the States buy some Sandie's shortbread cookies or something similar.

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Recipe adapted from the Cooking Channel

Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Whipped Cream

Name: Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Whipped Cream
Prep time: 50 min
Total time: 2 h 50 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: about 15 shortbread cookies / 150g; 4 Tbsp / 56g butter, melted; 1/2 cup / 119g heavy whipping cream; 1/2 cup / 113g mascarpone or cream cheese, room temperature; 1/3 cup / 87g creamy peanut butter; 1/4 cup / 50g brown sugar; 3-4 oz / 100g good quality dark chocolate, chopped; 2 cups / 474g heavy whipping cream; Extra chocolate in bar form, for chocolate shavings, optional

Makes 1 9in / 23cm pie - 8-12 servings

Ingredients:

For the Shortbread Crust

about 15 / 150g shortbread cookies
4 Tbsp / 56g butter, melted

For the Peanut Butter Filling

1/2 cup / 119g heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup / 113g mascarpone or cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup / 87g creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup / 50g brown sugar

For the Chocolate Whipped Cream

3-4 oz / 100g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
2 cups / 474g heavy whipping cream
Extra chocolate in bar form, for chocolate shavings, optional

Directions:

Make the Chocolate Whipped Cream First

Place chocolate and cream in a double boiler or a glass or metal bowl over a pan of simmering water. The bottom of the bowl shouldn’t touch the water.
Gently stir until chocolate is mostly melted. Remove from heat and continue stirring until chocolate has completely melted. Place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Make the Shortbread Crust

In a food processor, pulse cookies until they become crumbly. Add butter and pulse until smooth and can be pressed into a crust. Depending on the type of cookies you use, you may need to add a touch more melted butter to ensure the crust will stay together. Press into a 9in / 23cm pie dish and refrigerate.

Make the Peanut Butter Filling

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Transfer to another bowl.
Again, in the bowl of the stand mixer beat mascarpone, peanut butter, and brown sugar together until smooth. Gently fold in the whipped cream with a spatula. Pour filling over crust and return to the refrigerator.

Assembly

Once the chocolate cream is cooled, beat with a stand mixer or handheld mixer until stiff peaks form. Remove pie from the refrigerator and spread or pipe chocolate whipped cream over the top.
Use a vegetable peeler or knife to shave a chocolate bar over the pie for the finishing touch.

Jenny's Notes:

Try using Nutella or Biscoff spread instead of peanut butter. YUM.

peanut butter pie, no bake pie, summer dessert, chocolate whipped cream, mascarpone, shortbread crust

dessert, pie

American

Yield: 8-12

Author: Jennyblogs