ISO Peanut Butter Pie recipe

[gfron1]

I can't believe a topic doesn't already exist but I sure can't find it if it does. There's a brief mention of PB pies in a topic on PB mousse, but that's not quite the same. I'm recreating my life in New Orleans this week at the cafè to celebrate Mardi Gras, and to go with the gumbo I want to offer PB pie. Right now I have Alton Brown's recipe - he's a pretty safe bet, but does anyone have their favorite?

[JeanneCake]

Maida Heatter's Frozen PB Pie, but the filling has whipped cream, milk, confectioner's sugar, cream chz and milk chocolate so you might be thinking it is more like a PB Mousse pie. I don't know AB's recipe to know how it would compare.

Basically you melt the choc, beat the cream chz and PB, add the melted choc then the milk and sugar, then add whipped cream. You pour it into a premade crumb crust (I like a plain chocolate crust with, Maida adds some salted peanuts to the crumbs) It never really freezes too hard to cut so it's good to have around.....

[sugar plum]

I had a look through my baking books and found two, non-frozen peanut butter pies (in Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook and The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook). Both of the recipes have an Oreo cookie crumb crust. Is this what you're looking for? Or more of a pie pastry crust? Both of my recipes also have chocolate on top of the pie. If you're still interested, contact me directly and I'll send you the recipes.

Another option is...do you own Dorie Greenspan's latest cookbook? Her recipe for a peanut butter torte is divine.

[gfron1]

I'm thinking I don't know what I'm looking for. All I know is that when I lived in New Orleans I used to get these amazing PB pies. But that was a long time ago and my memory has faded. I don't remember them being frozen, and I also don't remember the crust being a significant factor. I kind of feel like it was a mousse inside of a graham crust - possibly choco graham.

[merstar]

Check this out from Emeril Lagasse

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-...cipe/index.html

Here's one with a photo that's similar, so you can see if it looks like the one you remember. Unfortunately, it uses whipped topping, which I assume can be subbed with heavy cream, whipped, OR better yet, stick with the Emeril recipe.

http://southernmamas.blogspot.com/2007/09/...butter-pie.html

[CaliPoutine]

My spouse is a PB freak. The PB pie I make her uses nutter butters for the crust. The filling is cream cheese, PB, brown sugar and whipped cream. I like a bite or two, but she goes nuts ( no pun intended) for it.

[Tri2Cook]

There's a recipe in the Sweet Serendipity book called Humble Pie that is a peanut butter pie. The ingredients for the filling are cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, heavy cream and chopped peanuts. The crust is graham crackers, butter and peanut butter. It's not frozen, just chilled in the fridge and it is tasty (there are a surprising number of tasty recipes in that book). I can PM or email the recipe if you want to take a look at it and see if it sounds about right. I'd just post it but... you know... then you'd just have to go to the effort of deleting my post after you read it.

[merstar]

There's a recipe in the Sweet Serendipity book called Humble Pie that is a peanut butter pie. The ingredients for the filling are cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, heavy cream and chopped peanuts. The crust is graham crackers, butter and peanut butter. It's not frozen, just chilled in the fridge and it is tasty (there are a surprising number of tasty recipes in that book).

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Sounds the same as the Emeril one I posted above. I'm getting a craving for this pie!

Edited February 24, 2009 by merstar (log)

[gfron1]

I just made the Paula Deen recipe because it was super fast and it satisfied my craving, but it was about 10% as peanutbuttery as I would have liked. I'll start going through some of your suggestions now that king cake season is past me

[peterm2]

I just made the Paula Deen recipe because it was super fast and it satisfied my craving, but it was about 10% as peanutbuttery as I would have liked.  I'll start going through some of your suggestions now that king cake season is past me

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I like the Gale Gand recipe on foodnetwork. It's pretty similar to the Emeril recipe. The chocolate between the pie and the crust is a super-delicious touch. I put some chocolate ganache on top, but the chocolate layer on the bottom is better and has a nice crunch to it that counteracts the creamy pie, but makes it tough to cut.

Peanut Butter Pie

[abooja]

I can't remember where I found this recipe (may have been mentioned on eG), but this peanut butter and chocolate tart looks awfully good. It's on my very long to-do list, but I'm still trying to recover from this peanut butter chocolate cake I made several weeks ago. Waaay too much cake for two people.

[Amy Eber]

Too late for Mardi Gras but here is the recipe I use. Easy, easy.... I have used it for a beginning cooking/baking class I teach.

PEANUT BUTTER CHIFFON PIE

Preheat 350°

CRUST (May use store-purchased 8 inch graham crust.)

1 1/2 to 2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 to 1 stick melted butter

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

1/4 to 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Combine ingredients and press into an 8 inch pie plate.Bake for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool before filling.

FILLING

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 cup smooth peanut butter

2 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until light. Add peanut butter and 2 tablespoons milk or heavy cream.

Beat heavy cream until stiff and fold in. Spoon into shell and chill at least 1 hour.

TOPPING

1 to 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate

1 tablespoon butter or heavy cream

1/2 to 1 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

Melt chocolate over double boiler or in microwave. Add more butter or cream if too thick. Using a fork, pastry bag with small tip or ZipLoc bag with corner snipped, drizzle chocolate over the pie and sprinkle with peanuts. Put back in fridge to set chocolate.

Serves 6 to 8

Amy Eber 2007

[gfron1]

Thanks Amy - I'll give it a try tomorrow.

[gfron1]

A quick update. I've made Paula Deens recipe and it was (of course) too much. I did Alton Brown's last night and its not a peanut butter pie - more of a reeses cup. I'm going to start through some of your suggestions now - starting with Amy's

[Tri2Cook]

To paraphrase in my own words and measures (the book uses volume), the one I mentioned is 6 oz. cream cheese, 22 oz. peanut butter, 12 oz. sugar, 1/2 oz. vanilla, 4 oz. chopped, roasted peanuts, 14 oz. cream, whipped. Cream the first 4, mix in the nuts, fold in the cream. I use superfine sugar because I like the texture better in low-liquid non-cooked things and for some reason I'm thinking I may have adjusted the sugar down a bit. I'm not sure about that though, it's been a while since I made it, so you may want to try it with the full amount first if you decide to do it.

Edited March 7, 2009 by Tri2Cook (log)

[gfron1]

I think I'm ready to take a PB rest before I start up again. I'm still not finding what I want - a strong PB flavor with no cream cheese twang.

Here's what I've done so far. Roasted my own nuts - Check!

Made my own peanut butter - Check!

Tried Paula Deen's recipe and then Alton Brown's - Check! Check!

(Alton's is more like a Reese's Cup)

Then I made Amy's recipe above and tinkered a bit using Herme's shell and lining them with ganache and nuts - Check!

And then added grapefruit mousse on top of the Amy's filling - Check!

And so I'm a bit tired of peanut butter right now.

[Chris Hennes]

Those look great... feel free to mail one my way if you need some taste-testing assistance!

If you are trying to get rid of the cream cheese twang, why stick with all recipes that have cream cheese in them? Have you tried something more along the lines of a peanut butter custard? Also, I find that adding just a touch of curry powder can make peanut butter taste more... peanut buttery. Could be my imagination, of course. But if you need a trick to amp up the flavor it might be worth investigating non-peanut additives.

[gfron1]

I stuck with cream cheese out of obligation and the hope that maybe the tang would go away....it didn't

[prasantrin]

I stuck with cream cheese out of obligation and the hope that maybe the tang would go away....it didn't

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Why the obligation to use cream cheese? Could you use mascarpone instead? I don't find it to be as tangy as cream cheese (but I've never done a side-by-side taste test).

[gfron1]

oh sorry, I didn't explain. Everyone above had recipes with cream cheese, so I wanted to make sure they knew I valued their input (I'm so thougtful ). When I get recharged for more PB, I'll try mascarapone (since I'm now obligated to try that )

[prasantrin]

oh sorry, I didn't explain.  Everyone above had recipes with cream cheese, so I wanted to make sure they knew I valued their input (I'm so thougtful  ).  When I get recharged for more PB, I'll try mascarapone (since I'm now obligated to try that  )

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OooooohhhhH!! Well then, I'm going to suggest sending some to me to taste. Now you're obligated to overnight a piece!

And I'm going to suggest making the one abooja linked to, and send me a slice of that, too! (It looks seriously good, but it's more caramelly than peanut buttery, which is OK with me since I like caramel more than peanut butter).

I want peanut butter pie, but I can't eat a whole pie by myself, and I don't think it would go over too well at work. I wonder if I can find some in the Philippines.

[ravenshadow13]

Are you going to tell us which was the best, so we can try it to?

please....

Edit- Aww, just checked your blog. Well... what about this one:

http://southernfood.about.com/od/creampies/r/bl20127d.htm

It's cooked with meringue (I'm sure you could alter that if you wanted to) and has *NO CREAM CHEESE*

I might try it... I've never had peanut butter pie... and I personally do love meringue.

Edited March 22, 2009 by ravenshadow13 (log)

[gfron1]

That's an interesting recipe. I'll leave off the meringue and make it a graham shell (or maybe McVitie's). But as you saw on the blog, they were all good, but none is quite what I remember from my days in NO. I'll suck it up and make another one next week.

[CanadianBakin']

Rob, I'm wondering if part of the problem is that you're using natural peanut butter? I think many recipes are designed to be used with good ol' Skippy. I think there's a thread on peanut butter cookies somewhere here and I'm quite sure that a PB like Skippy made a better cookie for some reason. Could be the same with the PB Pie.

[gfron1]

huh...now that's a good thought. That won't address the tang, but ravenshadow's recipe may do that. But a cheaper pb may deal with the intensity issue. On another approach, when I made my own pb I used cheapo pb oil. I could use LeBlanc roasted pb oil which is incredibly powerful (it is very good stuff). I'm making this for me and not the cafè so I don't mind spending a bit more.