A favourite in our household, this Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie is a dream to behold. A chocolatey biscuit base, topped with a layer of chocolate peanut butter, a layer of peanut butter cream and finally topped with freshly whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Have I tempted you yet??
The thing I love most about this dessert is the texture; its so smooth and feels so light despite being such a decadent treat and the biscuit base gives just the right amount of crunch to pull it all together.
This is a no-bake dessert, so perfect to prepare on a Sunday when you have a roast cooking in the oven! You start off by blitzing biscuits and butter to make the base and sides of the pie. This is then chilled for at least 30minutes whilst you get started on the filling. The peanut butter filling is cooked on the hob and is one of those mixtures that seems to do absolutely nothing for a good 20 minutes and then all of a sudden it thickens up and its action stations. So persevere here and stick on some music to sing along to whilst you whisk!
Once thickened you pour a third over chopped chocolate and mix to make a delicious gloopy chocolate peanut butter mess. This is poured onto the biscuit base and left to chill and set. The chill and set process is a regular theme throughout the recipe, but don’t be be put off by it! It means you can slowly make it on a lazy Sunday afternoon and you’ll be rewarded with the sumptuous pie at the end.
The final steps are to mix the peanut butter filling with whipped cream, leave to chill and set and finally top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
I would advise leaving the finished pie for at least another hour before serving as it tastes best when its completely set and cold. In the past we’ve been too impatient, dived in too quickly and been disappointed that it doesn’t taste as good as normal! So patience is best here 🙂
Ready to fall in love with a pie? Heres the recipe, adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery’s Cake Days:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
Ingredients
Base
- 250 g double-chocolate Digestives
- 50-60 g unsalted butter
Filling
- 3 tbsp cornflour
- 160 g caster sugar
- 550 ml whole milk
- 3 large egg yolks
- 180 g peanut butter Smooth or crunchy
- 80 g dark chocolate broken up into small pieces
Topping
- 500 ml double cream
- 50 g icing sugar
Instructions
- For the base: Line the base and sides of a 22cm/9in spring-form cake tin with baking paper to make it easier to turn out the pie at the end. Then blitz the biscuits in a food processor until they are rough crumbs. Melt 50g of butter and add this to the biscuits, then blitz again until both ingredients have come together in a rough paste. If the biscuits seem a little crumbly still, melt the remaining 10g of butter, add it to the biscuits and blitz again.
- Tip the mixture into the lined tin, and press evenly over the base and up the sides using the back of a spoon. You want to try and get this as even as possible all over, so spend a little time on this. Once you're happy, pop it in the fridge to chill for around 40 minutes.
- For the filling: Mix the cornflour and sugar in a saucepan, then mix together the milk and egg yolks and pour into the pan. Cook over a low-medium heat, whisking continuously until well thickened. Then remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter. Place the chocolate in a small bowl, and pour over about a third of the hot peanut butter filling, mixing well until the chocolate has melted and the filling is smooth and even. Pour the chocolate filling into the chilled biscuit base and cover with clingfilm to stop a skin forming. Then place back in the fridge for 30-40 minutes to set. Also cover the remaining peanut butter filling with clingfilm and set aside to cool to room temperature.
- In another bowl, whip 250ml of the double cream using a hand-held whisk until it forms soft-medium peaks. Fold this into the completely cooled peanut butter filling, ensuring it is mixed in well. Remove the pie from the fridge and top with the filling, then place back in the fridge to chill and set for 40-50 minutes.
- For the topping: The final step is to whip the remaining 250ml double cream with the icing sugar until it forms stiff peaks and spoon onto the set pie filling. Then grate the remaining chocolate over the top for added decoration!
