Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pie

When pi day rolled around I decided it would be a good excuse to make (and eat) a pie since I haven’t yet done that in our almost-10-months of marriage. I made a quiche for supper but that doesn’t really count. A recipe that had caught my eye was one on the bottom of our “Meijer Extra Creamy Whipped Topping” lid. I really enjoy the stuff. When it’s frozen I can eat it by the spoonful. Ha, I can do that when it’s thawed. Seth, on the other hand, can do without the stuff. However, I know the guy well enough to be convinced that adding some peanut butter and cream cheese would tempt him into eating a delicious pie made with whipped topping.

In the end, I adapted the recipe enough that I even changed the title. The original called for a graham cracker crust and I switched that out for a chocolate-creme cookie crust (otherwise known as Oreo but I used the Aldi version and it was delicious). Then I replaced the melted chocolate chip layer with straight fudge sauce. Since I didn’t have 16 oz. of whipped topping I only used 8 and adjusted the amounts of cream cheese and powdered sugar slightly. Then I topped it off with some melted peanut butter, fudge sauce, and crushed chocolate-creme cookies. I kept the original recipe, but since all ingredients except for one have a slash with some modification I’m going to say thanks for the idea, Meijer, but this is not just Peanut Butter Pie. It’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pie!

The crust was found on Live Well Bake Often and I was very satisfied with how that part turned out. Also, I liked how the pie was dense and rich and I didn’t really miss the other tub of whipped topping. Although, as you can see, I did use some spray whip as a garnish.

This was almost better after a few days in the fridge as the crust got soft and the flavors really blended. We even have 3 slices in the freezer that I suspect will taste just fine when we dig in to them!

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pie

Inspired by MeijerTM Extra Creamy Whipped Topping Lid 

Yield: 1 9-inch pie

Ingredients

• 24 Chocolate crème sandwich cookies (Oreo’s or generic are fine)
• 4 T butter
• 3 T chocolate fudge sauce plus 3 T (or more!) for garnish
• 6 oz. cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• ½ cup creamy peanut butter plus 3 T (or more!) for garnish
• 8 oz. whipped topping, thawed
• crushed chocolate crème sandwich cookies
• spray whip for garnish

Directions

• Process cookies in food processor until they make fine crumbs. Leaving the crème in the middle is totally fine! Then stir in the melted butter.
• Pat into a 9-inch pie plate and use a measuring cup or back of a spoon to firmly press crumbs into even layer along bottom and up the sides of pie plate. Place in fridge while preparing filling.
• Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and peanut butter together until smooth. Then stir in whipped topping until fully incorporated.
• Pull crust out of fridge and pour 3 T fudge sauce in the bottom and spread out evenly. Then spoon the peanut butter and cream cheese mixture into the plate and smooth out on top.
• Melt 3 T of peanut butter in microwave for about 20-30 seconds then at 10 second intervals until it is smooth and runny. Drizzle on top of pie and follow up with 3 T of fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap (may want to spray it so it doesn’t stick to the top of the pie or put toothpicks around crust to hold plastic wrap up) and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• Before serving, top with crushed cookies and spray whipped cream if desired.