Just Dea-sserts... Chocky-Peanut butter Pie

A RESOUNDING SUCCESS!!! and my husbands idea... When I told him there was a potluck at church this Sunday and we needed to bring a salad or dessert he immediately suggested "Chocky Peanut butter Pie" I had made this once before just for us but it wasn't quite right... it didn't have enough peanut butter... and i put some honey roasted peanuts on top thinking it would add a satisfying crunch. Well the moisture from the pie made the nuts rubbery weird bits not a satisfying sweet-salty crunch and again we wanted a punch of peanut butter... We started talking and planning our next attempt... We'd use more Peanut butter and forget the honey roasted peanuts maybe some chopped peanut butter cups... and a heavy pinch of salt to really make that peanut butter pop up and say hello....and a rich velvety chocolate ganache to top it off... SO here it is...

1 prepared Oreo pie crust ( I bought it if you wanna make it from scratch let me know)

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 cup creamy Peanut butter (crunchy would probably work but beware the rubbery bits!)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp salt ( I know it seems like a lot but the salt really helps elevate the peanut butter flavor!)

1 tsp vanilla

1 8 oz tub Cool Whip
6 oz of good semi sweet chocolate chips ( my fave Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet) 3/4 c. heavy whipping cream
10-12 Reese Peanut butter cups, chopped fine you can leave some whole for garnish if you like

Start by creaming together the cream cheese, Peanut butter, the powdered and granulated sugars, the salt and the vanilla. This mixture should be pretty thick taste it to make sure it has enough Peanut butter flavor for you if not add some more. Also if it isn't sweet enough add more granulated sugar. Fold** 1/4 of the cool whip into the Peanut butter mixture until fully incorporated then fold in another 1/4. Now fold in 1/2 of the crushed Reeses and spread the filling into the pie crust. Cover with plastic wrap or the inverted lid and refrigerate at least an hour. When your pie is chilled take your prepared Chocolate Ganache *** and pour it over the top of the peanut butter filling forming a layer of rich chocolatey goodness refrigerate once again. Before serving fold the remaining crushed peanut butter cups into the remaining cool whip and spread on top of pie.

Peanut butter perfection!!! :)


**For help folding one ingredient into a batter check out this video Fold-Egg-Whites-Into-Batter
***To Prepare the Chocolate Ganache:
In a med size bowl heat the whipping cream in the microwave on high 2-3 min until it is bubbling hot. Pour in the chocolate chips and allow to sit for 1-2 min then whisk the mixture until it becomes a thick velvety chocolate sauce. You can pour this on anything you wanna make rich and chocolatey use it as chocolate fondue pour it on cake ice cream whatever you like! Any leftovers can be put in the fridge for about a week and or frozen for at least 2 months. This is the rich decadent good stuff!!! This is also the foundation for chocolate truffles which would make a great future blog...