Made | Peanut butter pie (for Pi Day!)

Happy Pi Day, y'all! I'm writing to you through my post-work post-Pi Day hangover. I have disappointed all the mothers out there and ruined my dinner. This day always sneaks up on me, made known by an email from a coworker saying, "Pi Day's coming up. Let's all make pie!" There were six pies in all: a chocolate pecan pie, a mushroom truffle tart (yum), lemon meringue, apple with cheddar crust, frozen maple pie, and my frozen peanut butter pie. My favorite was the frozen maple pie; she even brought a maple chocolate sauce!

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie
Serves about 12

2 1/4 cups whipping cream
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/4 cups peanut butter
1 cup of mini peanut butter cups
6 peanut butter cups cut in half

So this recipe is pretty much a no-brainer. It calls for homemade whipped cream, peanut butter cups (in two sizes), peanut butter, a chocolate crust. The trick to making this pie the best it can be is to use great ingredients.

Let's start with the peanut butter cups. If you have a Trader Joe's near you, go for the dark chocolate peanut butter cups. And the mini peanut butter cups for the filling. You won't regret it, and there will be some cups leftover to snack on while you wait for the pie to set in the freezer.

Then comes the crust. The recipe calls for a store bought chocolate crust. No thanks! Pull out the big guns (i.e., a food processor) and splurge on the Nabisco chocolate wafers. Some recipes say you can use the cookie part of an Oreo, but that sounds like more work, and it'll be a shame to throw away all of the Oreo filling. (Not as much a shame as eating it all, though.) Mix 30 wafers with 4 tablespoons of melted butter in your food processor, then press it into your pie plate. Bake that for about 10 minutes at 350 then let it cool. 

On the stove, combine 1/4 cup of cream, all of your peanut butter (I used a mixture of crunchy and creamy), and 1/4 cup of powdered sugar. Heat for a few minutes until it's all combined. Let that cool to room temperature.

Then make your whipped cream. If you don't have a hand or stand mixer, turn back now. Go to your local bakery and buy a pie. I'm serious. 

If you do have either of those things (or a desire to bulk up the muscles on one arm), proceed by putting the remaining cream (2 cups) and powdered sugar (3/4 cup) into a medium bowl. Whip that sucker up until it forms stiff peaks. 

Getting closer... 

And...

We made it!

Now taste a little bit of that whipped cream. Good, right? Now fold in your peanut butter mixture and make it even better! Fold in your mini peanut butter cups and plop that filling into your cooled pie crust. Then decorate with your big peanut butter cups as you please, being sure to save some for snacking later. 

Freeze your pie for at least three hours before serving. (I know. That's why I told you to save some peanut butter cups.)

The pie was a hit today, but I'd definitely recommend taking it out of the freezer about a half hour before serving. Maybe stick it in the refrigerator an hour before serving. Either way, be careful how much of this you eat, especially at 9:15 in the morning. 

You've been warned.