Frozen Peanut Butter Cup Pie

Frozen Peanut Butter Cup Pie

You are going to find many recipes for frozen peanut butter pie if you search the web and I have tried quite a few of them. Some have crushed peanut or vanilla wafer crusts, some have cream cheese in the mix, many have sweetened condensed milk in the recipe and quite a few have chocolate on the bottom. I finally got around to creating my own version of this delicious dessert and I tried to make it like a big frozen peanut butter cup which both my daughter and I particularly love.

I went with a chocolate cookie crumb crust to mimic the shell of the peanut butter cup while adding a crunchy element. I also used the sweetened condensed milk that seemed to be in almost all the recipes. I didn't use cream cheese, instead opting for mascarpone cheese for a less tangy, more neutral creamy taste and texture. Many of the recipes I've seem have an open top but I opted for a soft ganache top which would complete the peanut butter cup look and taste and would soften quickly out of the freezer before serving.

From the first bite I knew I had a winner. The creamy, no churn peanut butter ice-cream center is incredibly silky as is the soft melt-in-your-mouth ganache top with the crust adding a great textural crunch. Incredible! Peanut butter cup lovers are going to go wild for this one.

Frozen Peanut Butter Cup Pie

Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of a 9 inch spring form pan. Line with parchment paper and then very lightly grease the parchment paper as well.

Mix together:

• 2 2/3 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
• 2/3 cup melted butter
• 3 rounded tbsp white sugar

Press the crumbs into the bottom and 3/4 of the way up the sides of the prepared pan. Set aside.

Whip to firm peaks:

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 tbsp icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Slowly beat in:

• one 10 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

Next beat in:

• 1 cup mascarpone cheese
• 3/4 cup peanut butter

Pour into the prepared crust and freeze for several hours or preferably overnight.

Melt together in a double boiler:

• 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup whipping cream, heated in the microwave to almost boiling

Reserve a little of the chocolate mixture to drizzle over the whipped cream if you like, then spread the rest over the top of the frozen pie. Return to the freezer until ready to serve. Before serving you can garnish with whipped cream and a drizzle of the chocolate ganache as well as some roasted peanuts.

Note: if your freezer is very cold as mine is, be sure to take the pie out of the freezer for 10 or 15 minutes before serving to allow it to soften sufficiently to be easily cut.