Anniversary Pie

Source: evilchefmom.com via Gretchen on Pinterest

Last week's anniversary post was getting a bit long, so I thought I'd save my comments on the pie for another day!

My pie doesn't quite look like the one above! I skipped the garnishes and made my own crust from 2 cups of crushed store-brand "oreos" and 1/4 cup of butter. But I liked this version because it called for actual heavy cream instead of Cool Whip.

I had my doubts about the recipe when I was folding the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. It was more globby than uniform. However, once it was chilled, it wasn't globby at all!

I also used a substitution for the semi-sweet chocolate required for the topping. 3 tablespoons of cocoa + 1 tablespoon of cooking oil is roughly equivalent to one ounce of unsweetened chocolate, and much more convenient since I don't keeping Baker's chocolate in the house. The only problem was that I forgot that the recipe called for semi-sweet, not unsweetened chocolate, so I threw in some confectioner's sugar with the chocolate. The topping was on the less-sweet side as a result, but I thought it nicely balanced the very sweet crust and filling. I also added a touch of vanilla extract to both the filling and the topping, because vanilla is just splendid. :)

This is definitely not a low-calorie dessert! But it was very rich and tasty, and a nice treat for my chocolate-and-peanut-butter-loving husband. :) It was also quite quick to make, and being an "ice box" pie, it was an energy-smart choice for the summer months. I do think it was set better after chilling overnight.

Since I had picked up two boxes of cream cheese by accident, by the end of the week I had nearly enough ingredients to make another! So I did, except that I had to take a chance and substitute half and half for the cream base in the topping. The result was not noticeably different, so I would recommend that change, as well as the use of reduced-fat cream cheese, for the cholesterol-conscious cook.

Overall, excellent recipe! Thanks to pinterest, and to "evilmomchef," whoever you are . . . I don't care for the way you present your pie recipe (language, etc.), but the product is great.