Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

So I know the holidays are over, and new years resolutions for healthier living are in full swing. The last thing you probably want to read about is MORE sweets.

But I kind of can't stop myself from blogging about this chocolate peanut butter pie I made for my Christmas wedding shower. See, my mom got a Kitchen Aid mixer…so I had to go ahead and take full advantage of it.

Anyway, whether you are avoiding sweets or not, you may want to know about this recipe. (Hey, it's not like you are NEVER going to eat pie again, right?!)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Recipe Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1c. flour
• 2 tbs. cocoa powder
• 2 tbs. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 stick (1/4 c.) butter
• 2 tbs. crisco
• 1egg yolk
• 2-3 tbs. ice water

Filling:

• 6 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
• 3/4 c. confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
• 1 tbs. vanilla extract
• 2 c. heavy cream

Here's how to cook this goodness.

The crust:

The pie crust is really simple to make. Combine flour, cocoa, sugar and salt until well-blended. Then add butter and shortening, pulsing on and off until course crumbs form. (The recipe I followed said it takes 5 seconds, but it took me a few minutes to get this mixture). Add the yolk and water and pulse again until the dough forms into a ball.

Press the dough in a ball and flatten into a pie plate. After this, you may want to place it in the fridge or freezer, depending on when you are going to make the filling.

The filling:

Beat cream cheese, confectioner's sugar and salt until fluffy. Then beat in peanut butter and vanilla. Then beat 1/3 of the heavy cream into the peanut butter mixture until peaks start to form. Then fold in the remained. Spoon the filling in the crust and place the pie in the freezer for four hours or in the fridge overnight.

To decorate, you can melt chocolate and peanut butter and drizzle over the top. I used chocolate syrup on mine.

The results:

This pie was a big hit at the party. It's got similarities to peanut butter cheesecake because of the cream cheese used, but it's so much easier to make than a cheesecake. It also only takes about 30 minutes or so to make, including the crust.

I followed Martha Stewart's pie recipe, and she makes a graham cracker crust if that sounds better to you…you can find it here. 

—Holli Anne