WARNING! This is not your everyday pie.  This is not an “I have a half hour I want something sweet” pie.  This is definitely a special occasion pie.  It is an “I want to impress my inlaws” pie.  It takes a little planning and a little work, but I promise you it is totally worth it.  You know those desserts that cause you to let out a totally involuntary mmmmmmmmm? This is that kind of dessert.

So, now that you are fully warned, let’s get started.  We start with a custard…don’t run away!  Custard really isn’t scary.  Once you master this technique a whole world of desserts will be open to you.  Ice creams, mousses, puddings and fillings will all look so much simpler after you conquer your first dip into the custard realm.  We need a few egg yolks and a little sugar in a bowl.

I am gonna whip those yolks for a couple of minutes with all that my muscles can give. This is the workout that totally makes up for all of the calories in this pie.  After a few minutes the yolks will turn this beautiful pale yellow.

To this I am stirring in a couple tablespoons of cornstarch to help thicken the custard up. Then I pour a little warm milk into my yolks

Since I haven’t grown a third hand yet, I put a towel under my bowl to keep it in place while I pour the milk and stir the yolks.  The goal here is to keep your eggs moving so they don’t turn into scrambled eggs.  I am not whisking like crazy, just keeping everything moving.  Now we put our empty milk pot back on the stove but not on any heat and pour our mixture into it.

Turn the heat onto a medium low and switch over to a wooden spoon or heat resistant spatula.  And I just keep that mixture moving.  Stirring for about three minutes.

After a few minutes my custard starts to thicken and I turn the heat right off.  I mix for another minute and I have custard.  This back of the spoon trick proves it.

Since I am not confident that I have absolute smoothness I put the custard through a sieve just to make sure I have a really smooth filling for my pie.

Then I cover that with plastic wrap and let it cool down. I put the plastic wrap right onto my custard to avoid getting a skin on top. I could do this step a day in advance or just an hour before I am ready to put together my pie.

Now onto the crust.  We start with a bag of Oreo’s.  Resist the urge to eat half of them, we need them!  Into my food processor they go.  You could totally do this by hand, just put them in a plastic bag and hit it with the bottom of a pot or a rolling pin.

An important step is to plug your food processor in, something that took me about five minutes to discover.  I probably should have has another cup of coffee toreally wake up. Anyway, once you plug your food processor in, really grind up those cookies. You want a nice fine crumb.  Then we pour our butter in.

Give it a few more pulses, then we get that mixture into the pie plate and flatten it to the best of our ability.  No need to be super intense about this, just push it into the bottom and onto the sides.  No one is going to really see the crust so don’t freak out if it has a bump or a divot.

I toss that into the oven for about ten minutes and my whole kitchen smells like Oreos.

While that is cooling I am back to the filling. The custard has cooled and now I am mixing in some powdered sugar and peanut butter.

Now we need a little whipped cream for this pie.  I hate whipping cream by hand, so I pull out the kitchen aid, but if you are aiming for some serious biceps then by all means whisk this up by hand

My goal is to have the cream pretty stiff. So, as soon as I can turn the whisk attachment upsidedown and everything stays in place, I know my cream is ready.

We are going to be as gentle as we can be in the next step.  I am folding the whipped cream into the peanut butter/custard mixture. I put the whipped cream on the top of the peanut butter/custard mix,then I take a spatula and start in the middle of the bowl and go down and under and then up and around.  Rereading that sentence and it sounds really confusing.  Here are some pictures that might help.

I am trying to scoop the peanut butter and as gently as I can fold it around the whipped cream.  Slowly and carefully just keep putting the spatula into the center of the bowl and bring it up and over.

Eventually you will have a creamy combination.

It is ok if you have a little white streak here or there.  Now I take half of this mixture and put it into my cooled pie crust.

Into the fridge that goes while I get the chocolate ganache ready.   I get my cream and butter onto the stove to get hot.  My goal is to melt the butter and just get the cream bubbling a little on the sides.  No need to boil this or get it to a specific temperature.

I pour the hot buttery cream over the chocolate chips.

I wait a minute then I mix those two things together

I mix until all of the chocolate is melted and I have a smooth chocolate sauce.

As much as I want to, I do not start spooning this right into my mouth.  This takes all of my will power.  I let it cool down for ten minutes in the fridge and then onto my pie it goes.  Back into the fridge to let that start to set up.

Now remember how we only put half of the peanut butter mixture into our pie crust? Time to put the rest on! You can just smooth this on or you can get a little fun and make little rosettes with a piping bag

Or, If you are feeling super fancy, you can cover it in chocolate and whipped cream.  I just take a vegetable peeler to a bar of chocolate and just peel little curls all over the pie and then make little rosettes of whipped cream.

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Decadent Peanut Butter Pie

  Peanut Butter Filling

• 1½ Cups Milk
• 3 Egg Yolks
• ¼ Cup Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 1 Cup Peanut Butter
• 1 Cup Powdered Sugar (Sifted)
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream

Whisk together Egg Yolks and Sugar till pale yellow and smooth.  Stir in Corn Starch. Bring Milk to a simmer and slowly whisk into Egg Yolks.  Pour mixture into a pot and turn heat to medium low.  Stir continuously until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon, about two minutes. Chill covered for one hour.  Combine Egg Yolk mixture with Peanut Butter and Powdered Sugar.  Whip heavy Cream to until stiff peaks form.  Fold Heavy Cream into Peanut Butter and Egg Mixture.

 Crust

• 1 –  14.3 oz Package Oreos
• 5 Tbsp Butter (Melted)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Crush oreos and mix with melted butter.  Press into pie plate.  Bake for ten minutes and cool.

Ganache

• ½ Cup Heavy Cream
• 1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
• 1 Cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Heat Milk and Butter just to a simmer and pour over chocolate chips.  Let sit for one minute then stir to combine. Cool for ten minutes in refrigerator.

Add half of Peanut butter filling to pie crust.  Cover in Ganache.  Top with remaining Peanut Butter Filling.  If Desired top with Chocolate Shavings and Whipped Cream.