Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Yum

Peanut Butter Cream Pie has not traditionally been one of my favorites.  As a kid, I hated peanut butter.  But then I tried a peanut butter pie so decadent . . . so silky . . . so delicious, that I knew the lifelong battle between peanut butter and me was on its way to a beautiful truce.

Mrs. Zitterbart, a sweet lady who helped with the fundraising dinners at my school growing up, used to make this pie, and she shared the recipe with me. It remains one of my favorites, and I think of her and smile each time I enjoy it. 🙂

What are we waiting for ?  Let’s do this!

Peanut Butter Cream Pie

(Slightly adapted from Mrs. M. Zitterbart)

Oreo Crust Ingredients:

1/2 package of Oreo cookies, crushed (roughly 1.5 cups crushed cookies)

2.5 tbsp. melted butter

Peanut Butter Filling Ingredients:

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 (8 oz) package Cool Whip, thawed

Directions:

To make crust, pulse Oreo cookies in a food processor until they become coarse crumbs.  Combine together the Oreo crumbs and melted butter until well mixed.  Press Oreo mixture gently along the sides and bottom of a 9.5 inch deep pie plate.  Set aside.

To make the peanut butter cream layer, beat softened cream cheese on its own in the bowl of your stand mixer, until it is smooth and creamy with no lumps.  Add in creamy peanut butter and whip until completely combined and creamy.  Add in powdered sugar and slowly mix until combined.  Add in thawed cool whip and mix completely.  Pour gently into prepared Oreo Crust, cover, and refrigerate until serving.

Now, in pictures! 🙂

Every time I make an Oreo crust, I chuckle. Doesn’t it just look like soil or something?  I keep expecting flowers to pop out of there.  Or maybe a weed or a worm.  But no worries. Nothing but deeeeelicious stuff here.

It’s super simple to make– whirl about 1/2 package of Oreos (I use regular and not the double stuff ones) around in your food processor.  You want about 1-1.5 cups of crushed Oreo crumbs, give or take.  Don’t worry. This isn’t rocket science, and I never measure. I just eyeball it. I just know it takes about 1/2 package, give or take the occasional thievery by my kids (not me!  Why I would NEVER.  Please stop looking at me).  Mix together your crumbs and your melted butter. Taste it to make sure it’s ok. Taste it again.  One of the benefits of being the cook is that you can eat buttered Oreo crumbs and call it working in the kitchen.  You know, doing your job as a cook.  Martyring yourself for the good of the family.  You’re welcome.  And someone please get me a larger spoon?

Press the crumbs along the side and bottom of a 9.5 inch deep pie plate. I have used smaller pie plates, but I find that a deep pie plate is less messy.  You have room to wiggle in there. 😉

The secret to making a silky, no lumps cream pie is SOFTENING YOUR CREAM CHEESE.  Lest you have absolutely no idea what “softening” cream cheese is, and all you can picture is laundry softener, rest easily.  It’s quite simple.

Just get your cream cheese out of the fridge about 1/2 hour before you’re ready to use it. See?  Told you that was easy. You’re so smart. I love working with you.  Beat your softened cream cheese in the bowl of your stand mixer, by itself, until it is creamy with no lumps.

Next, add in your creamy peanut butter and whirl that together.  I like to scrape down the bowl halfway through (with the mixer stopped, obviously), and make sure that the cream cheese is getting mixed in completely.

Next, add in your powdered sugar.  Start the mixer out slowly, so that you don’t get baptized with sugary snow. Don’t ask me how I know this.

Next, add in your thawed cool whip. You can thaw cool whip 2 ways– by letting it sit overnight, in the fridge, or by sitting it out for about 2 hours on the counter. The overnight in the fridge is way easier. Just throw it in the fridge and forget about it until pie calls your name in its seductress, shampoo commercial voice.  “Nothing like the softness . . . enriching your plate one wash, er, piece, at a time.”

Mix in your cool whip.  Make sure that you scrape down the sides of the bowl and get all the peanut buttery goodness underneath to play nice and mingle.

When your peanut butter mixture is all combined, scrape the filling gently into your prepared Oreo crust.  Don’t try to whip this into place, or you will end up with a great big pile of messy, crumb-coated gooey stuff. Just slowly kind of glob it in there, a spoonful at a time, and smooth a little bit as you go. Think deep thoughts. Make sure to lick the spoon when you’re done. This baby is worth finagling the kids over bowl licking rights.

When you are finished smoothing, give the sweet little pie a chill period in the fridge for a few hours before serving.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap so that it doesn’t dry out.

If you’re feeling super crafty, you can use a piping set to create melted chocolate decorations to stick on top of the pie when you serve it.  Sometimes I draw out a design and then trace the chocolate onto wax paper with the design showing through underneath. Then they are all the same size.

I also love to drizzle the slices with Hershey’s chocolate syrup. You know. Because I’m a Pennsylvania girl, and I always go out of my way to buy PA products like Heinz and Hershey.  I can’t help it.  I will do this until the day I die.  😉

But however you serve it– with fancy 3D chocolate art, or just with a little drizzle of chocolate syrup, it is bound to be a hit.  And when you place this gorgeous beauty before your guests, they will OOOHHH and AHHHHH.

They will take a silky, decadent bite.  “Oh my GOODNESS this is amazing!  You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble!” They will close their eyes.  They will leave the fork in their mouths, Mmmmmm-ing as they taste.

They will beg you to take a slice (or the entire rest of the pie) home. You might even receive spontaneous marriage proposals. You’ve been warned.

Decadence looks good on you.

You did it. And I’m just so proud of you.

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