Double-Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Double-Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

I can’t understand why I never tried a Reese’s Pieces when I was a child, maybe because the epic joy of having a jolly rancher with its neon watermelon and green apple flavours seemed more interesting than a boring, drab and round chocolate cup. On Halloween there were Nerds to be had, those tiny, hot pink sweet and sour candies you poured into your hand out of a pocket-size box and ate till your tongue turned a scary purple and pink. Then there were American Smarties– small pastel coloured discs which made your mouth pucker up from their tartness. I never touched any of the chocolate in my Halloween basket, maybe because I was also a snob, used to eating chocolate my Baba brought back for us from the UK and France.

Double-Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

I adore Reese’s Pieces now, especially the dark chocolate version. A Reese’s recreated into a dessert, this double-chocolate peanut butter pie is just the ticket if you love that combination of sweet, salty and rich. You get an extra punch of chocolate in the base with the addition of molten chocolate and buttery goodness, and then in the middle is the filling- rich, creamy, salty-sweet with just a little bit of crunch from the peanuts. And to top it all off, a thick slathering of dark chocolate ganache to balance out the sweet richness of the filling.

Double-Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

After dinner, you just need one slice.

Or two, if you’re my husband with a sweet tooth.

Double-Chocolate Peanut Pie

I have rewritten a recipe by Chef Vitaly Paley which I found in Food and Wine magazine. The character of the final product is still the same, so the credit for this recipe goes to Chef Paley. But I have changed almost all of the proportions of ingredients; added an ingredient (sour cream) and omitted two ingredients (roasted peanuts and salt).

I find it hard to work in cups, so everything in my adapted recipe is in grams and millilitres.

My changes/additions:

*In the original recipe, Chef Paley calls for 8oz (227g) of cream cheese. I used 200g of cream cheese and added sour cream.
*I increased the amount of sugar from approximately 100g (1/2 cup) to 150g (3/4 cup) to counterbalance the tartness from the sour cream.
*I decreased the amount of heavy cream and peanut butter.
*I added sour cream.
*I omitted roasted peanuts and salt.
*I did not whip the heavy cream separately and fold it in (as per Chef Paley’s recipe) as I wanted a more dense cake. I simply added the heavy cream, unwhipped, to all the filling ingredients.
*I have added corn syrup to the chocolate ganache and changed its preparation method.

Here is the original recipe by Chef Paley.

My Version
Serves 8-10

Ingredients:
Chocolate Base:
*100g dark chocolate broken into small pieces- I used Lindt 85%
*100g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
*300g chocolate wafer biscuits / cookies, finely ground

Peanut Butter Filling:
*200g cream cheese, softened
*2 heaped tablespoons of sour cream (You could substitute with crème fraîche, but bear in mind that it is less tangy than sour cream and more dense. If either of the two ingredients are not available in your country they can be omitted- they are there to add tang to the filling)
*230g chunky peanut butter
*150g sugar
*2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
*200ml well-chilled heavy cream

Chocolate Ganache
*100g dark chocolate broken into small pieces- I used Lindt 85%
*100ml heavy cream
*1 tablespoon light corn syrup (optional)

Prepare the chocolate base:
*Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F.
*Combine chocolate and butter in a small sauce pan and place on low heat. Stir till butter and chocolate have melted and come together.
*Pour butter and chocolate mixture over biscuit crumbs, mix till it is fully incorporated.
*Press the biscuit crumbs into the bottom of a 25cm (9.5in) springform pan and 3cm up the side.
*Bake the crust for 10 minutes, or until set; the crust will continue to firm up as it cools.

Prepare the peanut butter filling:
*In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sour cream with peanut butter, sugar, vanilla extract and whipped cream until blended and fluffy.
*Spoon the filling into the crust, smoothing the surface with a spatula.
*Refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.
*Once the peanut butter filling has set, you can start to prepare the chocolate ganache.

Prepare the chocolate ganache:
*Place the chocolate in a metal or heatproof glass bowl.
*Place cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, and bring it to just a boil. Pour over chocolate. Let it sit undisturbed for 5 minutes.
*Stir the chocolate and cream and add corn syrup and stir until smooth. Do not whip as it will create bubbles.
*Spread the chocolate ganache over the pie filling and refrigerate for an hour till firm.

The pie can be covered and refrigerated overnight.
Serve the pie chilled or slightly cooler than room temperature.

Comments

  1. This speaks straight to my heart. It looks so delicious. I was allergic to peanut butter as a child (or so my mother said…) but couldn’t resist taking swipes of it on the sly. Nothing happened so I have this love affair with peanut butter. I wish I sat next to you as a child because as you discarded all of your chocolate candies I would have gladly swapped!!

  2. This pie is calling my name. It looks delicious! I’m not much of a baker but I will definitely give this a try.

  3. Green apple Jolly Ranchers are the best! I’m afraid I’d be tempted to take at least 2, maybe 3 slices of this lovely.

  4. It looks divine-if only I could make this for my little american nephews who love their peanut butter!

  5. S, those pictures are absolutely stunning – I want a massive slice right now. Been watching a lot of Barefoot Contessa in my broken limb recovery phase and she made peanut butter brownies this morning but this looks much better- so rich and sophisticated. x

  6. I didn’t know much Halloween until a few years ago. It was always referred to “the American celebration with strange costumes and lots of sweets”. I’ve never been to trick/treating (I think that’s what it’s called) too. I’ve only ever made one “dessert” with peanut butter and it didn’t turn out all that well. However, your version of chocolate peanut butter pie looks divine. I’ll have to give it a go when I get a bit more time on my hands.

  7. yum! read this at work, now regretting it… need, yes NEED, chocolate now. beautiful pictures as usual!

  8. I love your blog, have it in my favorite list for over a year now.
    Your pics and write ups r amazing.
    Hope u had a wonderful birthday!
    I just started a blog of my own. Would love it if you would stop by.

    Regards,
    Manju
    http://manjuseatingdelights.blogspot.com

  9. wow! i loove reeses & this is exactly my kinda dessert…

  10. I’m with your husband, I’d definitely go in for a second slice of this – looks absolutely divine!

  11. I love your stories and recipes.I came across this recipe while looking for some good desserts and tried it. The pie turned out to be so godd but my crust was really hard and was hard to cut through easily. Any idea why this may have occurred?

    • @Sab Hi Sab, Thank you for your kind words. I am not sure what could have gone wrong – perhaps your crust was too thick or the biscuits/cookies were not ground too fine? I would suggest trying a different brand of biscuits/cookies, too. Making the crust thinner would definitely help. Am sorry to hear this happened. All best, shayma

  12. I simply couldn’t depart your web site prior to
    suggesting that I actually loved the usual info a person provide to your visitors?
    Is going to be back regularly in order to check out new posts

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