A Winning Peanut Butter Pie

Light and creamy, yet incredibly rich, this scrumptious old-fashioned Peanut Butter Pie is quick and easy to put together while sure to satisfy the peanut butter lovers that gather around your table.

Peanut Butter Favorites

It’s hard to say how I got yet another year older still able to honestly say I have never made a Peanut Butter Pie. After all, I have been a lifelong fan of peanut butter. Growing up I took a peanut butter sandwich to school almost every day for lunch. Then I frequently snacked on a spoon full of peanut butter straight from the jar after I got home.

Possibly my all time favorite recipe is for Aunt Hen’s Peanut Butter Fudge. Scrumptious Peanut Brittle, softened with creamy peanut butter, is another candy I find hard to resist. I have always loved to make peanut butter-y cookies and cakes. More recently, I’ve been adding peanut butter to my granola. I even put peanut butter in my coffee. So how did I get this far without ever making, and rarely eating, a Peanut Butter Pie?

As a child, I was slow to warm up to pie. I liked cakes, I baked cakes, I decorated cakes. Pie, however, was more of a challenge. I liked Derby Pie well enough to eat a slice in May, but only without the nuts.  I would eat Cherry Cheese Pie in February, but only without the cherries. For the most part I was just too picky to fully enjoy most pies that came to our family table. But Peanut Butter Pie? The ingredients are simple and few: a jar of Skippy, a block of cream cheese, some whipped cream and you’re there. It is scarcely any more complicated than Aunt Hen’s Chocolate Bar Pie. 

A Contest Winning Recipe

It was Nita, a good friend of my father-in-law, who convinced me I had to stop this nonsense and actually make a Peanut Butter Pie. Nita has a long and interesting relationship with storied recipes from the area and I often ask her to share them with me.

One evening, as we were talking about pie, I mentioned that my son-in-law loved Peanut Butter. Nita replied that she had a great recipe for Peanut Butter Pie. It wasn’t just any old pie recipe. This pie won the Pie Contest at her local church not on just one occasion, but twice.  

That said, she assured me the recipe was a simple one. She made a copy of it and handed it to me. It originally came to Nita from her friend Marcia. At the bottom of the page it reads, “Makes 2 pies. FREEZE TILL NEEDED.” Apparently Nita followed those directions exactly. In fact, she laughed, when the guys at church asked her to bring a pie for the contest, she didn’t have time to make one. Happy to help out, instead of saying no she just took one that she had already tucked away in the freezer.  

One for Now, One for Later

This year, I finally tried the recipe for Nita’s Winning Peanut Butter Pie. My son-in-law’s birthday was approaching and I wanted to bring him a sample. He is a confirmed peanut butter enthusiast. He keeps a huge jar of Adam’s peanut butter close at hand in the kitchen. Traveling to our house for a visit, he once phoned ahead to make sure we had Reese’s Peanut Butter Puffs in the pantry. His and my daughter’s wedding cake was a Peanut Butter Pie from their favorite local Pie Spot. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to test this promising recipe.

The pie went together easily. I beat together the cream cheese and sugar, then added the milk and peanut butter. Finally, I whipped the cream and folded it into the mixture. Spooning the filling into the graham cracker and cookie crusts, I thought it seemed a bit thin. After several hours in the refrigerator, however, it set up well. I tucked the second pie away in the freezer. 

My test slice turned out to be deliciously light and creamy. It was easy to eat, but beware, this pie is rich. Smooth and flavorful, it may be best served in thin slices and savored with a cup of coffee. On a summer’s day it would be perfect taken from the freezer just a short time before serving.

I took the pie with the chocolate cookie crust to my son-in-law. It looked quite pretty and got enthusiastic reviews. My daughter did have one suggestion, however. She thought it might be even better to add a layer of chocolate to the bottom, just on top of the crust. I’ll give that some thought and maybe I’ll try it next time.

Nita’s Best Peanut Butter Pie

Course: Dessert, PieCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

2

pies

Prep time

25

minutes

Chilling Time

3

hours 

Total time

3

hours 

25

minutes

Light and creamy, yet incredibly rich, this scrumptious old-fashioned Peanut Butter Pie is quick and easy to put together while sure to satisfy the peanut butter lovers that gather around your table. Serve one tonight and freeze the other for later use.

Ingredients

• Graham Cracker Crusts:

• 2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

• 4 Tablespoons brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

• Pie Filling:

• 1 8-oz package cream cheese (at room temperature)

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1 cup (120g or 4.25 oz) powdered sugar

• 12 oz jar of peanut butter

• 12 oz heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks ( or 1 12-oz carton Cool Whip)

• Garnish (Optional):

• Chopped Peanuts

• Flaked Sea Salt

• Ganache Topping (Optional):

• 2 oz chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)

• 1/3 cup cream

Directions

• Graham Cracker Crusts:
• In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add softened butter and mix until evenly combined.
• Press half of the crumb mixture into each of two pie dishes, using the back of a spoon or the bottom of a glass or measuring cup to pack the crumbs firmly onto the bottom and sides of the dish.
• Bake 10 minutes at 350F. Remove crusts from oven and set aside to cool.
• Pie Filling:
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until soft and smooth. Add milk gradually until incorporated and mixture is creamy. Add powdered sugar and continue mixing until combined.
• Add the whole 12-oz. jar of peanut butter and mix until fully combined.
• In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Stir 1/3 of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture until smooth. Fold in the remaining whipped cream just until incorporated.
• Smooth peanut butter mixture into prepared crusts. Garnish as desired with chopped peanuts, a pinch of sea salt, or a drizzle of chocolate ganache (see below).
• Refrigerate pies for at least 3 hours, or overnight. Pies can also be frozen for later use.
• Ganache Topping:
• Place the chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips) in a heatproof bowl.
• Warm the cream in a small saucepan over low heat until it comes to a very gentle simmer. Pour the cream over the chocolate and allow it to sit for two minutes. Stir until smooth.
• When the ganache is smooth, transfer it to a Ziploc sandwich bag. Seal the top and snip off 1/4-inch of one lower corner of the bag. Pipe the ganache randomly over the top of the pie as desired.

Notes

• Recipe Source: From Nita’s friend, Marcia, via Nita’s kitchen.
• Any type of pie crust can be used for Peanut Butter Pie. It is not unusual to see Peanut Butter Pie Filling in a pre-baked pastry shell or a Chocolate Cookie Crust. To make a chocolate cookie crust simply omit the cinnamon and replace the graham cracker crumbs with chocolate cookies crumbs from crushed chocolate wafers, chocolate graham crackers, teddy grahams or Oreo cookies.
• To add a layer of chocolate between crust and pie filling, double the recipe for the chocolate ganache and spread about 1/2 cup on top of the pie crust before adding the peanut butter filling. Use the remainder of the chocolate ganache to drizzle or pipe over the top of the pie filling to decorate. Or, you could simple melt the chocolate, stir until smooth and spread that over the pie crust, then let it set before adding the peanut butter filling to the crust. A little more melted chocolate could be drizzled over top.