Cook Like Mad

When I think of icebox pies, I think of those super sweet, cool-whip(or pudding) based, high rise pies often seen in diners and old country cookbooks. In one of my favorite southern cookbooks, A Taste of Louisiana, by the Louisiana Federation of Women’s Clubs, among the many pie recipes, there is a recipe for Peanut Butter Pie that calls for chunky peanut butter, raisins, vanilla pudding mix, whipped topping, and salted peanuts, all set up in a graham cracker crust. Now I haven’t made this pie, but it did give me an idea to make the one below, modified from this epicurious.com recipe.

The epicurious recipe uses creamy rather than chunky peanut butter, whipped cream rather than pudding mix, and swaps the raisins for a layer of chocolate ganache. I like the fact that epicurious keeps the graham cracker crust, but I thought the pie recipe needed to be (forgive me) “kicked-up a notch.” So I made raspberry preserves to spread over the chocolate ganache to revive the fruit component established in the first version by the raisins. The raspberry preserves give a much-needed tartness to the rich and creamy pie, without adding “chew,” which no doubt was an effect of adding raisins to a chilled pie. The chocolate ganache is made from 60% cocoa-content chocolate chips, adding to the complexity of the pie’s flavors. This is not your average refrigerator pie, it is a pie for adults, in addition to children, and speaking of children, it’s a great recipe to make with them. If you prefer to use store-bought raspberry preserves, just make sure you stir it up a bit before spreading it over the chocolate layer, so it’s loose and easy to manipulate. Also, feel free to make this pie in 8 of those individual graham cracker crust molds you can buy in the store- that way there’s no worrying about cutting perfect slices and each guest will feel particularly royal : ) So give this old-school pie a try. It’s a perfect, comfy winter dessert and it’s easy to boot. Enjoy!

Chocolate Pb & J Mousse Pie

Adapted from this Epicurious.com recipe

Makes 8 Servings

1 bag frozen raspberries
2 tablespoons sugar

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
7 whole graham crackers, finely crushed into crumbs (the food processor works best here)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons sugar, divided

1 1/3 cups (about 8 oz) 60% bittersweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup plus 1 3/4 cups chilled whipping cream, divided
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided

1 cup (about 6 oz) peanut butter chips
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

Bittersweet chocolate chips, melted, to serve
Roasted, lightly salted peanuts, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. If making raspberry preserves from scratch, dump bag of frozen raspberries in a small pot with 1/3 cup water and bring to a boil Lower to medium heat, stir occasionally, and add 2 tbsp sugar. Stir frequently for another 10 minutes and then turn off heat, transfer to a bowl, and let cool. Meanwhile, make other pie components.

2. Spray 9-inch pie dish lightly with vegetable oil spray. Mix graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 melted butter and 2 tbsp sugar with a fork until it comes together and spread out evenly in the bottom of the pie dish, making sure, to patch up any holes, as you work the mixture up the sides of the dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, until just lightly golden brown and firm to the touch. Let cool on the counter.

2. Mix chocolate chips, 2/3 cup whipping cream, 2 tbsp corn syrup and 1 tsp vanilla in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on half power for 2 minutes. Let sit for 30 seconds, and stir, until fully incorporated. At first the mixture will look like it won’t combine, but be patient, it will become quite thick and dark with a little stirring. Pour overcooled crust and set pie dish in the freezer for 20 minutes.

3. Mix peanut butter chips, 3/4 cup whipping cream, 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter, and 1 tsp vanilla in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on half power for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir the same way as the chocolate chip mixture. Let cool in the freezer for 10 minutes.

4. Once chocolate mixture has cooled in the crust, spread cooled raspberry preserves over chocolate layer, ensuring to create an even layer, as it will be pretty thin. I like to use the back of a tablespoon for this if there is no offset spatula available.

5. Chill 10 minutes in the fridge. After this point, the peanut butter mixture will be cool, so whip 1 cup whipping cream with 2 tbsp sugar until it is thickened but has not reached soft peaks. It is very important to not whip the cream to soft peaks or beyond, to keep the mixture creamy. Fold in the peanut mixture to the whipped cream in thirds, trying to keep the volume you created. Dump this peanut mousse in the middle of the raspberry preserves layer and spread to the outer edges of the pie crust. It will look as if there is too much mousse mixture, but it is exactly the right amount, so don’t skimp. Place the pie in the fridge for at least one hour, but up to overnight, to allow it to set. Do not cut the pie until the pie has chilled for 1 hour. To serve, drizzle with melted chocolate and roasted, lightly salted peanuts. Enjoy!

-M : )

Posted February 7th, 2008 under Baking, Cakes, Food, Recipes. Tags: chocolate peanut butter pie, chocolate pie, chocolate raspberry pie, icebox pie, pb&j dessert, pb&j pie, peanut butter and jelly pie, peanut butter dessert, peanut butter pie, refrigerator pie
RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.