Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Good to the last bite

As I was taking photos of my slice of pie, the thought crossed my mind that if I botched these pictures, I'd have to set up and do it again.  Wouldn't that be a shame?  Alas, the first set of photos were fine.  I'll have to come up with a different excuse to cut another slice.

I've had this recipe for ages, and followed it faithfully... until this time around.  I pulled out the recipe to use up my left over Easter candy ingredients.  I had purchased an extra block of cream cheese by mistake.  It's not something I use on a regular basis.  What was I going to do with that?  I also had a handful of peanuts and a bit of cream to use up, and there's always chocolate chips and peanut butter on hand. 

As I read through the recipe I realized I had enough cream for the ganache, but not enough to whip for the peanut butter layer.  The whole purpose of making the pie was to use up what I had on hand, not go out and buy more.  So I beat in some plain Greek yogurt (maybe a half cup or so) to lighten it up a bit.  It's much denser than the original recipe, but still delicious.  In fact, I liked how it turned out so much, I may try this substitution again.

Here's the original recipe:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

1¼ cup flour
½ cup peanuts, ground
3 Tbls sugar
¾ tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
3-4 Tbls ice water

½ cup cream
1½ cup chocolate chips

1 8oz package cream cheese
¾ cup peanut butter
¾ cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream, divided

½ cup mini chips

Combine flour, peanuts, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening. Sprinkle with water. Roll to 1/8” thickness. Put into 9” pie pan. Bake at 400 for 15-17 minutes. Cool completely.

Melt chips and cream. Cool enough so it will hold it's shape. Spread on bottom and sides of pie crust.

Combine cream cheese, peanut butter and sugar. Beat well. Add ¼ cup of cream, beat at high speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. In small bowl beat remaining cream. Fold into peanut butter mixture; spoon into crust. Sprinkle mini-chips around edge. Chill at least 3 hours.