to recreate a peanut butter pie

When I was young, my grandparents would take my family to a truck-stop sort of restaurant off of I-90 when we came to visit called Beef & Beer. I don't recall having beef there, and I certainly didn't have any beer at age 10, but one thing I do remember is the peanut butter pie. We always got it, no matter how much we had already had to eat, and we always paid for it later. But it was fantastic. And good food is often worth stomach distress, in my opinion. In any case, I thought I would try and find a peanut butter pie recipe to make for a Memorial Day picnic.

This was a recipe from Emeril, and it didn't turn out anything like the glory pie from Beef & Beer, but it got a "yum" reaction from the picnic attendees. This is a peanut butter pie for people that like moderate amounts of peanut butter, because the chocolate seems to take over the top flavor spot.

First, make a crust of Oreo cookies, graham crackers, sugar, and butter, and press it into a glass pie dish.


I did this first and then had so much leftover that I decided to put it in a springform instead.


So far so good. On to part of the filling: cream cheese, confectioners sugar, and milk.


Add melted chocolate and peanut butter. (I only use Jif. I would rather abstain than eat other peanut butter. That's saying a lot.) It starts to look like goop at this point.


Make homemade whipped cream.


Fold the cream into the chocolate peanut butter mixture and dump in springform.



It was at this point that I realized that something was off. There is too much crust for the pie pan the recipe calls for, and too little filling for it to be in a springform pan. Thus, after you make a chocolate sauce and drizzle on top, you get this. Delicious, but proportionally off.



I suggest you make two 9-inch pie pans and extra mousse. Better yet, call Beef & Beer and get their recipe. You will not be disappointed.