I did a wee bit of baking for today. My sister in law requested that I make her a peanut butter cup pie. Which I did. I also made another salted caramel cheesecake (recipe at the link). So I hope everybody wants dessert!
(sorry about the lighting…)
Peanut Butter Cup Pie
Crust:
1 and 1/2 cups of crushed chocolate graham grackers
1/2 stick of sweet unsalted butter melted
Coat a 10 inch wide, as deep as you’ve got pie pan with cooking spray or wipe with sweet, unsalted butter. Combine the crushed chocolate graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter. Spoon into the greased pie pan and pat down from the center to the sides and then up the sides. Place in the freezer.
Dark Chocolate Ganache Base
4 ounces dark chocolate chips (use semi-sweet if you prefer)
4 ounces heavy whipping cream
Place the dark chocolate chips in a bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate chips. Let stand for five minutes. With a whisk, combine the hot cream and the melted chocolate completely to make a ganache. Remove the pie crust from the freezer. Pour the ganache into the bottom of the pie crust and with an offset spatula (or a non offset spatula if you prefer), gently work the ganache around the bottom of the crust and up the sides before it sets. Place in the refrigerator.
Peanut Butter Filling (Mousse)
10 ounces heavy whipping cream
20 ounces of peanut butter
2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar
Whip 10 ounces of heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks and then place in the refrigerator. Whip 20 ounces of peanut butter – whatever type you prefer – until the color begins to lighten and it becomes very, very smooth. Add between 2 and 3 tablespoons of sugar (to taste and depending on how sweet the peanut butter you’re using is). Continue to whip for another 3 to 5 minutes until the sugar is thoroughly incorporated.
Remove the whipped cream from the refrigerator and fold it into the whipped, sweetened peanut butter. Once the whipped cream and peanut butter are thoroughly incorporated remove the pie crust from the refrigerator and fill the crust with the peanut butter filling (mousse). It should look like this:
Place the pie back in the refrigerator and refrigerate for at least four hours (I let mine sit overnight).
Now we make the top.
Dark Chocolate Ganache Topping
8 ounces dark chocolate chips (use semi-sweet if you prefer)
8 ounces heavy whipping cream
Place the dark chocolate chips in a bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate chips. Let stand for five minutes. With a whisk, combine the hot cream and the melted chocolate completely to make a ganache. Remove the pie from the refrigerator. It must be cold. Pour the chocolate ganache onto the center of the pie and then use an offset spatula to work the ganache out to the edge of the pie so it mates up with the top of the crust. It should look like this:
Place it back in the refrigerator for at least a 1/2 hour before serving so the ganache can finish setting up on top. When ready to serve, remove the pie from the refrigerator, slice it, plate it, and eat it. Or if you’re really hard core just eat it straight from the pie pan (you know who you are…).
What I really need to do is get a silicon pie mold. Then I can chocolate ganache the entire inside of the mold, then fill it with the peanut butter mousse, then ganache the top. Once it is all set I can just pop it out of the mold and have a very large, stand alone peanut butter cup.
Anyhow: open thread!
LAO
Nice!
rikyrah
Oh my..
That looks delicious ???
NYCMT
Query: why not mix the cream and the peanut butter and whip both together? is the air from the whipped cream that much extra lightness and loft?
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: You’re alive!
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Thank you. It was.
Adam L Silverman
@NYCMT: Yes. The cream won’t whip correctly otherwise.
Betsy
After all the sweets I’ve eaten today I didn’t think any other sweets could appeal to me … And then came this.
Adam L Silverman
@Betsy: It is very rich.
Mary G
Wow. I want that for my last meal. Just back from dinner at friend’s house. Her husband, who passed four years ago, always made candy for Christmas and one of the things he made was peanut butter balls dipped in dark chocolate. Excellent memories.
debit
I am still so full from dinner that I couldn’t even look at dessert. And now I want to run into the kitchen and make this. Damn you.
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: Tis true.
Manyakitty
Omg. I just got dizzy from a blog post.
Manyakitty
@Mary G: That sounds like the classic Ohio dessert, buckeyes. Mmmmm
NotMax
Snap decision. Gonna prepare the roux to make gravy for tonight’s lamb using schmaltz instead of butter.
zhena gogolia
Looks so so delicious.
NotMax
@Adam L.Silverman
Plus folding in a ingredient (the whipped cream) is a different technique than mixing or whipping.
Mnemosyne
I ordered a chocolate banana cream pie from Republic of Pie. It was a hit, as always.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: This is true.
laura
I would marry that pie.
ThresherK
@Betsy: You duplicated my thoughts exactly.
Lapassionara
Oh my. MOAR desserts is just what I need right now. Thanks, Adam, and thanks, blog host (whose state we drove through today) for all you do.
danielx
@Mnemosyne:
If I didn’t have an apple streusel pie awaiting my attention, I’d be highly stressed after viewing their online order page.
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
Also, if you whip cream too much it separates into butter and buttermilk, doesn’t it?
Another Scott
Hey Adam. Dunno if you saw this this morning. :-)
The pie looks yummy, BTW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@Another Scott: I did and thanks.
Adam L Silverman
@Amir Khalid: If you whip cream to much you pretty much get butter.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: So it made out like a burglar with the new tax law?
ETA: The roasts turned out great(I cooked two, one for the medium rare folk and one for the medium well folk).
Yarrow
Wow! That looks incredibly decadent. I have no room for any more food and then you do this!
HuCat
Lighting is my-T-fine to me. Maybe you can make me a slice if ever we meet.
jnfr
This looks amazing.
Chris T.
Don’t use chocolate chips! (Well, use them if you’re lazy. :-) ) Use a good quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate for baking, and cut it into small bits. Chocolate chips have a different (deliberately higher) melting point via stabilizers, and won’t smooth out as well as good dark chocolate.
Link in case one doesn’t believe some random person on a blog: https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/types-of-baking-chocolate
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Glad the roasts turned out well.
Adam L Silverman
@Chris T.: I use the Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips. They work fine. And they have the exact same single stabilizer that the Guitard chocolate has.
lowtechcyclist
Adam, what sort of PB do you use? Standard-issue Jif or Skippy, or all-natural?
Adam L Silverman
@lowtechcyclist: I use Smart-Balance as my default, day to day peanut butter for my high protein smoothies. You can use pretty much whatever you want, but I’m not sure the all natural types where the oil separates from the peanuts is going to have the right consistency.
lowtechcyclist
Good point! I’ve got to try making this, as soon as I work off the pounds the past ten days have put on me.
Czar Chasm
@Adam L Silverman Ach, a day too late! i tried the version that you posted two years ago…on the 24th! The crust on this version is MUCH better, so I’ll definitely be trying this one in a few weeks.
Fred
Gosh that looks and sounds great. I think I might eat the whole thing and gain ten pounds.