Anyone who says, "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels," has obviously never eaten this.
Either that, or they're a con artist and you should defriend them on Facebook immediately.
This, this, is worth a little extra body fat.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Mousse Pie
Make this once and it will become one of your ace-in-the-hole recipes that you can leverage into nearly anything.
"If you take out the trash every night for the next three years, I'll make you a peanut butter and chocolate mousse pie."
"Dear Dad, Happy Father's Day! Enjoy the pie! P.S. Sorry about wrecking your car."
Social experiment. Try it.
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees and buttering a 9" springform pan. If you don't have one, you can use a 9" round cake pan -- it'll just look more homey.
I was supposed to tell you to process an entire package of Oreo cookies into fine crumbs. But I got stars in my eyes and ate one. And then each of my kids ate one when my back was turned. And then I ate another because the first one was so good. And you know what? There was still enough.
You can use a food processor, or put them in a Ziploc bag and give 'em a few whacks with a rolling pin. A food processor is faster, but use what you've got.
Melt 6 Tbsp of butter and add most of it to the cookie crumbs. Reserve a little to use just in case you need it. I ended up using slightly more than 5 Tbsp, probably because my package of Oreos was five short. I only had unsalted butter, so I added a little pinch of salt to this mix. If you have regular butter, omit the extra salt.
This is the consistency you're looking for. Damp, but not soupy. Mix the butter in well so all the cookie crumbs are coated.
Press the crumb mixture into your buttered pan. This part is pretty much irresistible to children, so be prepared to lock your doors if you don't want the neighborhood youngsters arriving en masse. This is the equation, right here:
Cookies!!!! + butter???? + playing with your food?!?!?!? = FunFUN.
Don't worry, these are freshly scrubbed four year old hands.
See? Nails clean.
I like to take a glass and use it around the perimeter of the pie. It makes a neater edge and prevents the crust from being too thick when it rounds the corner from horizontal to vertical.
Pop the crust into the preheated oven for 10 minutes. This just helps to firm it up and keep it from crumbling when you cut into it.
Meanwhile, prepare the topping for the pie. This is one cup of salted peanuts that I processed for about 10 seconds in the food processor.
To the peanuts, I added 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate. I had miniature chocolate chips handy. You could chop up a candy bar or baking bar. I also added 2 tsp of granulated sugar and a pinch of cinnamon. Mix together and set aside.
When the crust has baked for ten minutes, take it out of the oven and put it in the freezer until you're ready to fill it. This does a couple of things. It helps keep the crust firm, but it also cools the crust down so the mousse filling doesn't melt when you pour it in.
The peanut butter mousse is deceptively light in texture, but tastes incredibly rich and delish.
Whip 2 cups of heavy cream. I have a stand mixer, but you can use a handheld if that's what you prefer. You want it to hold medium peaks, because you're going to whip it more in a moment.
To the whipped cream add 1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar and whip until well blended.
Transfer the whipped cream to a separate bowl. Put it in the refrigerator if your room is warm.
Here is where I could probably tell you that you could use some pre made whipped topping instead of whipping your own cream. But I like the two ingredient real deal, and honestly, I haven't tested this recipe with it. But if you want to walk on the wild side, be my guest and report back to me.
Back to the mousse. Your whipped cream is now in another bowl, and to your mixing bowl, you should add 12oz of cream cheese (1-1/2 packages), 1 cup of confectioner's sugar and 1-1/2 cups of peanut butter. This is my favorite kind, as it tastes yummy without having the added hydrogenated oils. Whatever kind you choose, it shouldn't be the natural unsweetened kind (although I like that on sandwiches), as you want a silkier texture. Use creamy or crunchy peanut butter, it doesn't matter.
Beat them together until smooth and fluffy.
Confession: I rarely soften butter and cream cheese ahead of time. It adds about one minute to the beating time, but they will soften up on their own.
When you have a light, fluffy texture, take about 1/4 of your whipped cream and gently fold it into the cream cheese/peanut butter mixture. You don't want to stir vigorously, as that deflates the air you've whipped into the cream.
Now take the cream cheese/peanut butter mixture that you've just added a bit of whipped cream to, and start folding it into the remainder of the whipped cream. Do this a little at a time, pulling from the bottom of the bowl and folding it over the top, just to combine them.
When you're done, your mixture will look like this.
Spread it into the prepared crust and pop it back into the freezer (if you're always short on time like me), or back into the refrigerator (if you plan on serving it later). You can refrigerate it up to 24 hours, if you prefer.
As if we weren't already on the road to perdition, we might as well hop on the back of a speeding car and get there faster with some ganache for the topping.
Heat 1/2 cup of heavy cream to a full boil. While the cream is heating, melt 4oz of semi-sweet chocolate. You can use a bain-marie or double boiler, or just use the microwave at 50% power, stirring every 20 seconds to prevent scorching. I used the remainder of my miniature chocolate chips. You use whatevs.
When the cream is boiling and the chocolate melted, slowly add the cream to the melted chocolate and gently stir until smooth.
Pour over the top of the pie and smooth it out.
Then take the peanut/chocolate topping you made earlier and sprinkle it across the top.
Put it back in the refrigerator or freezer to help the ganache firm up. If you're impatient, the pie will still taste just as good, the topping will just be softer, more like chocolate syrup.
When you're ready to serve, remove the ring from the springform pan.
Bask in the glory of the pie.
This is really too big of a piece to eat in one sitting.
But you might as well have a go at it, eh? Never know until you try.
Make this and let me know what you think!
Click here to download a PDF of this recipe.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 10:58AM 
