Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

So much delicious is happening in that title.  So much.  Seriously.  Greatest food combination.  Ever.

I hosted the Student Council meeting this week.  The most important thing about hosting such an event is the food you bring to it.  Well.  Maybe that's the most important part of hosting for me.  Yeah.  I might be an overachiever in the food arena.

Moving on.

After much contemplation I settled on Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie.  It was delicious.

So.  I made two pies but the following recipe is for one pie.  It worked quite well to double the recipe.

You need one chocolate cookie crust (you can buy chocolate crust crumbs or use a pre-made crust).  I bought the pre-made crust, but ended up crushing it up and just putting a layer on the bottom.  I melted a bit of butter and mixed it in with the broken crust to adhere the crumbs together.  Then I patted the crumbs down onto the bottom.
First off, start with the filling.  Whip 3/4 cups of heavy whipping cream until very soft peaks form.  Set this aside.  In a separate bowl, beat together 1 cup (8 oz) of cream cheese, 2/3 cup of creamy peanut butter, and 4 tablespoons of sugar.  It will be easier if you let the cream cheese set out for a bit before beating so it is soft.  Once the peanut butter mixture is well mixed, fold in the whipped cream so everything is nicely blended together.  Spoon the mixture into the crust.

Lick the leftovers out the bowl.  Savor.

Next make the chocolate topping.  In a small saucepan, combine 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream.  Stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat immediately and simmer, without stirring for 5-6 minutes (the mixture should be slightly thick and pale yellow).  While this is cooking, chop up 2 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate into small, easily meltable bits.  Once the 5-6 minutes is up, add 2 tablespoons of butter and the chocolate to the cream mixture.  Remove from heat and stir until the butter and chocolate are melted.  Let the mixture cool slightly.

After the chocolate mixture has cooled and thickened slightly, pour it on top of to peanut butter mixture.  Spread it out gently so it is relatively even over top.  Put the pie in the fridge and let it chill for at least an hour.

After the pie has chilled, you can garnish the pie with chopped peanuts and semi-sweet chocolate shavings.  I just bought a thing of regular, shelled peanuts and roughly chopped them.  For the semi-sweet chocolate shavings, I bought a small candy bar and used my vegetable peeler to make the shavings.



Seriously.  Can you really go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate?