A rich and creamy frozen peanut butter pie is served with an easy homemade hot fudge sauce.
I have loved reading through all of your Thanksgiving debates. I was actually surprised to read how many of you debate over whether or not to cook a turkey. It sounds like for many of you, you make it mostly out of tradition – not because you like turkey. Me – I couldn’t imagine the day after Thanksgiving without turkey sandwiches!! Another common debate seems to be over pies. And of course it was over pumpkin or apple, or both. Well folks, I’d hate for you to see Thanksgiving with my family!! I think the pies are the star of the show!! In fact, my dad loves pie so much that when we got together for his birthday last weekend, my mom asked for a few pies. Well, I think we ended up with 8 or 9 pies. For 15 adults and about 14 kids. Yeah, that’s a lot of pie!! I guess that’s how much we love pie!
My pie that I brought was this beauty – a Frozen Peanut Butter Pie with Cookie Crust. I actually didn’t plan ahead very well, and I found myself looking through cookbooks the night before. I knew I had a church thing that would take up most of the morning, then a photo session that evening before the party. I knew I only had a few hours, so I was trying to find a recipe I could make quickly. When I came across this recipe, I was sold! I could make it in the morning before my church activity, then I wouldn’t have to worry about it!
It actually came together very easily. I couldn’t find chocolate wafter cookies (darn Wal-Mart!) but I did find chocolate animal crackers that worked well in a pinch. There is a layer of chocolate that goes on top of the crust, and this is the only part that gave me trouble. The second I added the corn syrup, it completely seized up into a hard lump of chocolate. So I tried again, and just spread the chocolate straight – without the corn syrup. I thought I was being smart, but when I went to cut the pie that night – lets just say that that chocolate hardened up so much that this pie was almost impossible to cut into. So I don’t know the answer – I’d probably end up just leaving out that chocolate layer next time
If you are a peanut butter lover, this is the pie for you. It’s super rich, so a small slice goes a long way, but it sure is delicious!! You’ll notice that the hot fudge sauce is missing in the photo above – my sister actually had some hot fudge left over, so we just used hers, and I took the picture at home later, so I just used some good old chocolate syrup. It worked!! I’m sure the hot fudge is delicious, though, so I included it in the recipe below!
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Peanut Butter Pie with Cookie Crust
Ingredients
For the chocolate cookie crust:
- 6 oz chocolate wafer cookies or other hard chocolate cookies
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
For the peanut butter filing with chocolate bottom:
- ½ cup 3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
- ½ teaspoon light corn syrup
- 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1½ cups heavy cream
For the hot fudge sauce:
- 6 ounces milk chocolate finely chopped
- 6 ounces dark chocolate 64% cacao, finely chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
Instructions
Make the cookie crust:
- Place the cookies in a food processor and process until they are completely pulverized. (You should have about 1 1/2 cups of crumbs.) Pour the crumbs into a bowl and stir in the sugar.
- Pour the melted butter over the crumbs and stir to combine. The mixture will fill wet. Pour the mixture into a 9-inch pie dish and press into the bottom and up the sides. It's often easiest to use the bottom of a measuring cup to press the mixture in firmly. Refrigerate the crust until needed again.
Make the peanut butter filling:
- Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and melt on 50% until melted. Alternately, melt the chips in a double boiler. Add the corn syrup and stir to combine.
- Remove the crust from the refrigerator and using a spatula, spread the chocolate in an even layer on the bottom of the crust. Return the crust to the refrigerator.
- Place the cream cheese, peanut butter, vanilla and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on to medium and beat until the mixture is combined and smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Set aside.
- Place the cream in a clean bowl and beat with a whisk until soft peaks form.
- With a spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture, folding until there are no white streaks. Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and freeze for at least 4 hours.
- Once the pie is frozen, you can tightly cover it with foil and freeze up to 3 hours.
Make the hot fudge sauce:
- Place the milk chocolate and dark chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Set aside
- Place the cream in a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Add the corn syrup and stir. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for 2 minutes, then stir until completely smooth and melted.
- You can refrigerate the hot fudge sauce in a covered container for up to 3 days. Warm the sauce before drizzling over the pie to serve.
Recipe Notes:
Kristy says
This could be my heaven…can't wait to try it!!
Kim Kelly says
For 20 years I have been searching for the perfect Peanut Butter Pie!! Will give this one a try to see if it meets my memories of the one I loved at Sam's in Tiburon, CA as I was going to college.
Beautiful pic!
crustabakes says
i cant tell you enough how appealing this pie sounds and looks!
jenna says
Peanut butter pie on Thanksgiving? Yes please!! YUM.
Karly says
This looks amazing! I'm a bit of a peanut butter chocolate addict. 🙂
teresa says
oh wow, this looks incredible!!
Quirky Jessi says
This is the kind of pie that if I made it, no one in the house would know because I'd hide it all for myself, lol.
Rosa's Yummy Yums says
OMG, that is a pie for me! I'd love to have a slice now…
Cheers,
Rosa
Holly says
Yum! Love the sound of this pie!! Peanut butter and chocolate you can never go wrong!!:)
Joanne says
I'm one of those non-turkey lovers, I hate to say. But I think that may be due to my mother's turkey cooking inability. I'm SUCH a sides girl though. And I do love my pies. Especially this one. So much PB goodness.
Georgia (The Comfort of Cooking) says
This peanut butter pie looks incredible, Deborah! It's still morning here in CA, but I could definitely go for a slice!
Barbara A says
when a pie crust calls for chocolate wafers I just use Oreos in the food processor. This works great. The Oreo filling just mixes in to a crumb pie crust.
Taylor says
I am all for anything with chocolate and peanut butter! This pie looks like a slice of heaven 🙂
keepitsweet says
i love peanut butter pie in any form:-) you could probably do a ganache instead for the chocolate layer to keep it from getting hard
Vittoria says
I was hesitant to click on this post because I knew I would be dying to make it, and now I am! LOL I'll have to make it and bring it to work or I'll eat it all!
rmbeers1969 says
Hi Deborah,
I've had the same problem with corn syrup additions – everything turns out like a giant tootsie roll. I've found that adding some milk to the chocolate-corn syrup mixture provides enough of a liquid to give you a spreadable mixture. I hope this helps!