If you love peanut butter and chocolate, my Peanut Butter Pie with a chocolate graham cracker crust and chocolate ganache will make you do a happy dance!
It’s going to be love at first bite!
Wouldn’t a slice of this decadent dessert satisfy the sweet tooth of the peanut butter lovers in your house? It was one of my customer’s favorite desserts during my restaurant days and after you taste it, you’ll understand why.
And it really is an easy peanut butter pie recipe, I promise. It also freezes really well, so if you’re tempted to eat the whole pie, you can always freeze half.
What ingredients do I need to make Peanut butter Pie?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make a Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
How do I make a graham cracker cookie crust?
Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Add the melted butter, sugar, and graham cracker crumbs to a medium mixing bowl.
- Mix until well blended (you can do this in the food processor too, just pulse it a few times).
- Press your mixture into a 9 or 10-inch pie pan. Spread the crumbs evenly and try to make the crust about ⅛ inch thick. *If the crumb mixture doesn’t seem quite wet enough and won’t stick where you press them, add a little water to the mix. **It’s a good idea to chill the crust for an hour before you bake it, this will help keep the crust from crumbling when served.
- Bake your graham pie crust for 8 to 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Make sure to let the pie crust cool completely before using.
*If you can’t find chocolate graham crackers, you can make an oreo cookie crust or use regular graham crackers.
How do I make chocolate ganache?
Before we start the pie, we need to make a simple chocolate ganache.
- Add chocolate chips and heavy cream to the top of the double boiler. *You can use a microwave for this step.
- Mix the melted chocolate and heavy cream together until smooth. Allow to cool slightly before using.
- Add about ⅓ of the ganache to the chocolate graham cracker crust.
- Spread the ganache evenly across the bottom of the pie crust and place the pie crust into the freezer or refrigerator so the chocolate can set up.
How do I make a peanut butter filling?
- Add the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and peanut butter to a large mixing bowl, and using an electric mixer whip until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.
- In another large mixing bowl, add the whipped cream, and vanilla. Using an electric mixer whip cream to stiff peaks. This process should be slow, start at a low speed, and increase the speed gradually over 8 – 10 minutes. *This method is how you keep the whipped cream from breaking. The cream should be ice cold and as fresh as possible. Look for heavy cream with the longest expiration date. **8 ounces of cool whip can be substituted for the homemade whipped cream. Let it thaw in the refrigerator before using.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture.
- Mix just enough to incorporate the cream into the peanut butter filling.
- Fill the prepared pie shell with the peanut butter mixture and if it’s not firm enough to add the ganache, place it in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Top the pie with the chocolate ganache, leaving just a little uncovered around the edges. Refrigerate the peanut butter pie for 1-2 hours to completely set. *You can also freeze the pie to hurry the process.
Your friends and family are going to love this rich and creamy peanut butter filling, surrounded by chocolate.
One of my other favorite non-traditional pies is my Toll House Cookie Pie.
Recipe FAQ’s:
Yes, you can. Substitute 8 ounces of your favorite whipped topping for the heavy cream, vanilla and sugar. Make sure to let the topping thaw in the refrigerator before using.
Yes, you can. Freeze the pie solid unwrapped. After it is completely frozen, double wrap it in plastic wrap. When defrosting remove the plastic wrap and allow it to thaw in the refrigerator.
*You can also slice the pie after freezing and wrap the individual slices.
Natural peanut butter usually doesn’t include added oil to stabilize the mixture. The pie filling can separate and get oily because of this. If you want to use natural peanut butter, use an electric mixer to whip it until creamy and well blended.
More Dessert Recipes You’ll Love!
Peanut Butter Pie Recipe – Restaurant Style
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- 1 ½ cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
- 1 tablespoon demerara sugar or brown sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
Chocolate Ganache
- 6 oz semi sweet chocolate
- ¾ cup heavy cream 8 ounces of premade whipped topping can be substituted. Let it thaw in the refrigerator before using.
Peanut Butter Pie
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cups confectioners sugar also known as 10x sugar
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 ½ cups peanut butter creamy style
Instructions
Pie crust
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Melt the butter, and in a large bowl add the melted butter to the sugar and graham crumbs, mix until well blended. (you can do this in the food processor too, just pulse it a few times)
- Press your mixture into a 9 or 10 inch pie pan. Try to make the crust about ⅛ inch evenly all around.
- If the crumb mixture doesn’t seem quite wet enough and won’t stick where you press them, just add another tablespoon of water to the mix. Spread the crumbs evenly
- It’s a good idea to chill the crust for an hour before you bake it, this will help keep the crust from crumbling when served!
- Bake your graham pie crust for 8 to 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Make sure to let the pie crust cool a bit before using. (Double this recipe for two pie shells)
Chocolate Ganache
- Now before we start the pie, we need to make a simple chocolate ganache, you can melt the chocolate in a microwave, I don’t own a microwave so I use a stainless steel bowl over a sauce pot with about an inch of boiling water in it.
- Add chocolate chips and heavy cream to the top of the double boiler and melt chocolate and blend together with cream. set aside to cool
Begin Assembly of Pie
- Your pie crust should be cooled and now you want to add a few spoonfuls of your chocolate ganache into the bottom of the pie shell and smooth it around until you have an even coating over the bottom of the graham cracker pie shell. Place the shells into the freezer or refrigerator so the chocolate can set up.
Peanut Butter Pie filling
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and peanut butter until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, add the whipped cream, and vanilla. Using an electric mixer whip cream to stiff peaks (hand mixer or stand mixer is fine). This process should be slow, starting. on low increasing the speed over about ten minutes. **This method is how you keep the whipped cream from breaking. The cream should be ice cold and as fresh as possible. Look for heavy cream with the longest expiration date.*8 ounces of premade whipped topping can be substituted. Let it thaw in the refrigerator before using.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture.
- Fill the prepared pie shell with the peanut butter mixture and refrigerate for 6-8 hours until firm.*You can also freeze the pie to hurry the process.
- Top the pie with the ganache, use enough to cover the top of your pie leaving just a little uncovered around the edges. Refrigerat about an hour to let the ganache set up.
J. Greiner
Love this recipe. I added an extra 1/8 cup of powdered sugar to the peanut butter mixture. Perfection!
Sharon
I bought oreo cookies to make the crust before I found your recipe. Would an oreo crust work okay or do I need to go back to the store and buy chocolate graham crackers? 🙂 Thanks! Can’t wait to make
Chef Dennis Littley
you can use Oreos for the crust, I wouldn’t use the filling, it will make it too sweet, but the cookie will work.
Sharon
Sounds good! I think you mean leave out the ganache on top of the oreo cookie crust.. not the peanut butter filling?
Chef Dennis Littley
I meant the oreo filling, just use the wafers
Melissa Buessing
Can full fat coconut milk be substituted for the heavy cream in the peanut butter filling?
Chef Dennis Littley
as long as it whips the same as heavy cream and remains whipped, there should be no problem.
Dr.Grandma Jeannie
Question: Under directions for Peanut Butter Pie filling, you said in Step 1 to “…beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and peanut butter…” In Step 2, you said to “…. add the cream, sugar and vanilla.” But the sugar was already added in Step 1! There is only one “sugar” in the Ingredient list for the filling, and it is not marked as “divided”. Is there another sugar missing from the list? (It would be helpful if ingredients were listed in the same order as they are referenced in the Directions.) I assume we should use a total of a half cup of confectioner’s sugar in the filling, and it probably doesn’t matter whether we add it to the peanut butter or to the whipped cream. (But it would matter if you were substituting Cool Whip…) Please clarify. Thanks for your answer and for the recipe!
Chef Dennis Littley
Omit the sugar from the whipped cream that’s an error on my part
tessa
Made this and It was amazing. Thanks for the recipe chef
Lisa
You’re killing me Dennis! I remember this pie when you first posted it to your blog back in 2010. I love the new pictures and love your peanut butter pie recipe, it has been made many many times over the years.