Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

January 24: National Peanut Butter Day

Islander and her brother often travel together to attend work-related conferences because they are in the same field. On one of their trips, the weary travelers walked to a restaurant near their hotel and quickly devoured their dinner. But they also wanted to eat something sweet afterwards. They split a chocolate peanut butter pie—oh my! It was a deliciously decadent and terrific treat after a long day of traveling.

Upon her return home, Islander searched online for a simple recipe for chocolate peanut butter pie. She found a basic recipe that allowed her to add creative combinations of toppings of her choice (see the Notes below for other decorating ideas), although it is perfect as a plain pie, too.

On National Peanut Butter Day, give chocolate peanut butter pie a try!

Recipe

(Adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 (8 ounces) bar cream cheese, softened
• 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 1 container (8 ounces) non-dairy whipped topping (Cool Whip)
• chocolate pie crust (we used Keebler brand Ready-Crust)

Directions

Cream together the peanut butter and cream cheese. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix until well blended. Stir in the non-dairy whipped topping until light and fluffy.

Pour into the chocolate pie crust. Use a spatula to smooth out the top. Refrigerate for an hour or until firm. Decorate as desired.

Notes

• Make this chocolate peanut butter pie pretty by sprinkling chocolate curls/chips and peanut butter baking morsels, drizzling melted chocolate or peanut butter or adding crushed peanuts or chopped chocolate peanut butter candies (such as Reese’s brand) on top.
• Search our blog for more recipes containing peanut butter.

French Silk Pie

January 23: National Pie Day

Scared of salmonella but still want a slice of French silk pie? The classic confection contains raw eggs but we wanted to try a recipe that uses cooked eggs—just to be safe, especially when serving guests whose digestive systems are sensitive (like Islander’s).

French Silk Pie is like a chocolate pudding cream pie but richer and velvety smooth. We chocoholics now prefer it over the latter but the raw eggs made this a rare indulgence.

Cook’s Country adapted Pillsbury’s award-winning original French silk pie recipe by cooking the eggs over a double boiler and increasing the amount of chocolate (we especially liked that part!) for a fuller flavor and deep, dark color. Now we can enjoy this delicious dessert without worrying too much about salmonella poisoning.

For peace of mind, have a piece of French Silk Pie (with cooked eggs in the filling) for National Pie Day.

Recipe

(Adapted from Cook’s Country)

Ingredients

• 1 baked pie crust (we used Pillsbury brand deep dish frozen crust)
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided use
• 3 whole eggs
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 stick (½ cup) butter, softened and cut into chunks
• 8 (1 ounce each) squares unsweetened chocolate (we used Bakers brand), melted
• chocolate shavings or curls (optional)

Directions

Brown the pie crust in the oven and let cool. In a large bowl, beat the cream until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate the cream while preparing the other ingredients. In a glass mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar and water.

Place over a pot of simmering hot water to act as a double boiler. Avoid scrambling the eggs by immediately beating the egg mixture on high speed until smooth, pale and frothy (about 7-10 minutes or until a thermometer reaches 160 degrees F). Remove the bowl from the double boiler and continue beating on high speed for another 10 minutes or until cool. Beat in the vanilla and softened chunks of butter. Mix in the melted chocolate until smooth.

Gently fold in half of the whipped cream until well blended with the chocolate. Pour into the prepared crust. Smooth the top with a spatula. Refrigerate at least three hours or overnight to set until firm. With the remaining whipped cream, fill a pastry bag and pipe decorative swirls over the pie. Sprinkle the top with chocolate shavings or curls (optional). Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

• Substitute one cup of the whipped cream for Cool Whip non-dairy whipped topping. Cool Whip is smoother and light but firm for piping the decorations on pies.
• Substitute unsweetened baking squares for semi-sweet for a sweeter French Silk Pie.
• Substitute the store-bought pastry pie shell for a homemade recipe.
• Search our blog for other pie recipes.

Jell-O Dream Pie

January 23: National Pie Day

We have prepared pies many times before. Some involve several steps while some, like this Jell-O Dream Pie, are super simple, especially for last-minute occasions. The basic recipe below is brand-specific, but it is a dream dessert for those who like to be creative with a combination of crusts, flavors and toppings. For an easy-as-pie recipe, make Jell-O Dream Pie for National Pie Day.

Recipe

(Adapted from Kraft Foods)

Ingredients

• 2 envelopes Dream Whip whipped topping mix
• 2 ¾ cups cold milk, divided use
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 packages Jell-O instant pudding mix (any flavor)
• 1 9-inch pie crust (graham cracker, chocolate or shortbread)

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, beat the Dream Whip packages with one cup of milk and vanilla until thick and peaks form. Pour in the rest of the milk.

Add the packages of Jell-O instant pudding. Beat on low speed then increase to high speed and beat until light and fluffy, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl. Pour into the pie crust and smooth the top. Refrigerate for at least an hour or until firm. Decorate as desired (we piped extra whipped topping using Wilton’s drop flower tip 2D and garnished with vanilla beans to indicate the French vanilla pudding flavor). Slice into wedges and serve chilled.

Notes

• We used French vanilla pudding flavor with a graham cracker crust for this particular blog post. But feel free to experiment with a combination of the crust and favorite pudding flavors, like a chocolate crust with chocolate filling.
• For a simple serving, add a dollop of whipped cream on top of a slice of pie.
• For a fancy garnish, decorate the top of the pie with chopped nuts, chocolate drizzles/curls/chips, cherries, sliced bananas, toasted coconut flakes, mint leaves, citrus peels, etc.
• Dream Whip is the dry mix equivalent of Cool Whip non-dairy whipped topping. A cup of real whipped cream may be substituted for Dream Whip and Cool Whip for a fuller flavor. Prepare one packet of Dream Whip (optional) or use Cool Whip (like we did) to pipe the decorative drops on top of the Jell-O Dream Pie.
• Search our blog for other pie recipes.