This is the sort of pie you would have found on a potluck table at Startup Baptist Church in the 1960’s. Products like Cool Whip were new at the time, and for women who got their whipped cream the old fashioned way – from actual cows – the idea that people might have such an item waiting in the freezer, ready to roll, was charming.
I’m sure the only reason they never invented this pie themselves was because they were too busy milking the cows, gathering eggs and preparing their meals the old fashioned way – from the ground up. Literally.
The pie filling was inspired by a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups®. It's a mash-up of a wonderful chocolate cheesecake recipe from Taste of Home magazine (available online) and a frozen peanut butter pie recipe from the back of a Philadelphia Cream Cheese® box (also available online).
I had the chocolate-chip Rice Krispies® pie crust only once -- in 1979, at a baby shower for my friend Catherine as the base for a Grasshopper Chiffon Pie -- but never forgot it. It was the obvious partner for a peanut butter filling (available online).
Besides being virtually worthless in any nutritional sense, this pie is shamefully easy to make. You’ll need to chill the crust for about 10 minutes before you fill it. And the completed pie needs to be refrigerated for at least an hour (2 hours is better) in order to firm up properly so that it can be sliced.
Oddly, the perfect accompaniment to this almost completely synthetic treat, is real whipped cream. It brings out the butter-y notes of the pie filling, and is a nice counterpoint to the dark chocolate of the pie shell.
Bottom line: it’s bad for you.
Have seconds.
Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Rice Krispies® Crust
serves 8
One chocolate Rice Krispie® crust (use this link)
- Basically, this is simply Rice Krispies stirred into melted semi-sweet chocolate chips. The recipe calls for plain Rice Krispies® but you may gild the lily by using Kellogg’s® Cocoa Krispies®.
Peanut Butter Pie Filling
- 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1-cup creamy peanut butter
- 1-teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ -teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butterscotch baking chips, melted (peanut butter flavor chips are good, too, if you can find them)
- 1 8-ounce carton frozen whipped topping, thawed.
- Make the pie shell as directed, and set it in the refrigerator to chill.
- Melt the butterscotch (or peanut butter) chips in a bowl over a double boiler. Set aside.
- Beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and peanut butter together until smooth and creamy.
- Beat in the melted chips until smooth and thoroughly combined.
- Fold about one third of the whipped topping into the peanut butter mixture in order to lighten it up.
- Gently fold in the rest of the whipped topping until no streaks remain.
- Spoon the filling evenly into the prepared pie shell. Whether you smooth the top, or heap it into billows and swirls is a matter of personal aesthetics.
- Optional: drizzle the top of the pie with melted chocolate, or dust with powdered chocolate.
- Chill for one hour.
Serve with real whipped cream
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