"Guilty" Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Most peanut butter pie recipes combine peanut butter, powdered sugar and cream cheese for its filling. This is more of a peanut butter mousse atop a layer of rich chocolate ganache. You can substitute any pre-baked cookie crumb crust. This is adapted from a Lee Bailey recipe found in Food and Wine magazine many years ago.

The Crust (enough for an 8” pie shell) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup salted peanuts
3 Tablespoons melted butter

Combine flour, brown sugar and peanuts in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse to combine, then add melted butter and pulse a few more times. Turn out into pie plate and bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. Turn off oven and leave the crust in for about 25 minutes to finish baking/setting up. Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely.

The Chocolate Filling
10 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (I used Trader Joe’s 62% dark)
2/3 cup powdered sugar
¾ cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in cubes
2 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter (Skippy’s works better than “Natural”)

Place chopped chocolate and powdered sugar in the top of a double boiler. Scald the heavy cream and pour it over the chocolate/sugar mixture and stir. Place the double boiler over simmering water. In a separate bowl, whisk together the two egg yolks then add a few spoonfuls of the hot chocolate and whisk it to ‘temper’ the yolks. When the yolks are warm, add them back to the melted chocolate and continue whisking (gently) to combine. Add the butter and when the mixture is smooth, remove from the heat, stir in the peanut butter and then strain the whole mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. Your pie shell should be cool by now; pour the filling into
the crust, cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge while preparing the mousse.

The Peanut Butter Mousse
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter (Skippy, not “Natural”)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mascarpone
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup peanuts or chopped peanut chews, for garnish

Whip heavy cream until stiff. In medium bowl, combine peanut butter, vanilla, mascarpone and powdered sugar. Fold cream into peanut butter mixture. Spread atop chilled chocolate layer and garnish with ¼ cup peanuts or chopped peanut chews. Chill until serving.

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