Fluffy No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie

This is the perfect dessert to make when it's too hot to turn on the oven or even a burner. We love to go to a very small town cafe about a half an hour away for their pan fried chicken, cooked to order, and their homemade pies. 

The Castle Cafe always has a killer banana cream pie but every few months the chef will get in a mood to make a Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie that is one of the best things I've ever had and I'm not even a big peanut butter person. Note the "only every few months" part of that- it's not nearly often enough so, I had to play with some recipes to come up with one that tastes just like his!!! We all agree that this is a perfect copy!

One of the secrets to his great pies is his chocolate coated graham cracker crusts. He uses it for his Banana Cream Pie and his Peanut Butter Pie. Brilliant! The crust never get's soggy!!  I hope you enjoy this pie as much as we do!

For a Printable Version of this recipe- Click Here! 

Ingredients

Pie Crust- Makes one 9" pie crust- You can also just buy one!!! 

• 1 package from a box of graham crackers- about 10 sheets of crackers
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/3 cup of melted butter
• 3/4 of a cup of chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Filling

• 1 1/2  8oz packages of low fat cream cheese at room temperature(12 oz)
• 1 1/2 cups of creamy peanut butter- store bought not the fresh kind. I like Jif
• 3 TBS of water or milk
• 1 1/2  cup of powdered sugar- divided into 1 cup and 1/2 cup
• 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips- Optional- you can mix some into the filling or you can just top the pie with some or both. 

Topping

• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips- Optional

Instructions 

Pie Crust

1. Preheat your oven to 375º
2. While the crackers are still wrapped, press of the sides, top and bottom to start to break them up. 
3. Place the crackers into a food processor. You can also put everything into a large zip lock bag and crush and mix the ingredients in the bag. 
4. Add the sugar
5. Pulse until the crackers are a fine crumb
6. Pour the melted butter over the crumbs and pulse until all combined. 
7. Press the crumbs into the bottom of a 9" pie plate. I use a measuring cup to press it in nice and tightly. 
8. Bake for 7 minutes
9. As soon as you take the crust out of the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the bottom of the crust. 
10. Let it sit for 5 minutes until the chocolate chips are melted. 
11. With the back of a spoon, spread the melted chocolate over the bottom and up the sides of the crust. 
12. Place in the refrigerator until cool 

Peanut Butter Filling

1. In a  mixing bowl, beat the whipped cream with 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar until it forms stiff peaks. That means when the beaters are pulled up out of the whipped cream, the points stand up straight. 
2. In another mixing bowl, place your 12 oz of softened cream cheese, the 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar and 3 TBS of water. Beat until well combined and slightly fluffy. 
3. 
   
4. Take 1/3 of the whipped cream and stir it into the peanut butter mixture to lighten it. 
5. Take the remaining whipped cream and fold it into the peanut butter mixture and fold until all combined. 
6. Spoon the peanut butter filling into the chilled crust and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours. 

Topping:

1. In a  mixing bowl, beat the whipped cream with 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar until it forms stiff peaks. That means when the beaters are pulled up out of the whipped cream, the points stand up straight. 
2. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie and sprinkle on the  mini chocolate chips. 

  Note: You can beat all 2 cups of whipped cream and the 3/4 cup of powdered sugar together- just remember to pull out a quarter of it to top the pie with before mixing the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. It's up to you! I tend to forget the pull out the topping so I beat the cream in separate batches!