Peanut Butter Pie

I've been working on this peanut butter pie for a while. In total, I think I've made 6 or 7 peanut butter pies this week, just trying to hit perfection. I finally got it. Here is the finished version. If you like peanut butter, you absolutely have to make this pie. 

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. cream cheese (half a block)
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 8 oz. whipped topping 
• chocolate graham cracker crust
• 2 tbsp Magic Shell ice cream coating
• Plastic sandwich bag
• 3 tbsp crushed peanuts

Directions:

Cut the cream cheese into cubes and microwave it for 20 seconds to soften. You can always leave cream cheese out on the counter to soften, but even at room temperature it doesn't hit that perfect consistency of solid, yet creamy that makes mixing easier. Trust me, stick it in the microwave. As long as it isn't melted, it will be fine. 

Put the softened cream cheese cubes and the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Mix the two ingredients together with a hand mixer until they are fully combined and look like cake batter. Add the peanut butter and milk. Mix until both are filling incorporated. Add the cream and do the same. At this point you should have a thick, creamy, peanut buttery ball of yum in your bowl. 

Unplug the mixer. Take the beater out of the mixer and put it in your mouth (yes, this is a requirement). Enjoy the pie batter while folding the whipped cream into the batter. You can use a spoon, but I find that a frosting spatula works much better for this part. 

Scrape the mixture into the chocolate pie crust. A chocolate graham cracker crust works perfectly for this, but if you can find an Oreo pie crust it would probably be just as delicious. I would have made my own Oreo crust for this pie, but Oreos do not survive longer than an afternoon in this house, so any attempts at that would be futile. 

Now, force yourself to put down the beater (hard, isn't it?) because you'll need both hands for this part. Smooth out the pie filling with the frosting spatula. Pour the Magic Shell into the plastic sandwich bag. Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and make swirly designs all over the pie. Sprinkle it with the crushed peanuts. Let the pie sit, uncovered (covering it will destroy your pretty topping and its hard as heck to remove  saran wrap that has frozen solid to the top of a pie) for a couple hours until the filling sets. You can then dig in. 

If there's any pie left when you're finished, you can cover it with saran wrap before putting it back in the freezer. The pie will have frozen enough by this point that the saran wrap won't stick to it. I keep mine in the freezer but you can move the pie to the fridge after it sets for a softer filling.