Peanut Butter Pie

Let me start by saying, The King would LOVE this peanut butter pie! Elvis Pie, indeed. I used my favorite crisp peanut-butter cookie recipe for the crust. This peanut butter pie is SO delicious, your friends will NEVER believe that YOU made it.

If, like me, you love a crumb crust, you may wish to use 2 cups crumbs and 5 slices of bacon for a larger proportion of crust to filling. I prepared the bacon as stated in the recipe and it took a good 20 minutes. I also put 2 paper towels on a plate, added 5 slices bacon, and covered it with another paper towel, then cooked the bacon on high at 2-minute intervals until the slices were VERY crisp, about 6 minutes total. Needless to say, the bacon from the microwave was cooked, cooled, and run through the food processor with the cookies before the oven bacon was even starting to get crisp. I used a couple tablespoons bacon fat and 1 tablespoon melted butter for the crust and it turned out nicely.

The next step, making the filling, needs your complete attention. It isn’t difficult, but you really don’t want to walk away, so read the recipe ahead and have everything you need close at hand, because you’ll want to keep the whisk moving. The custard filling will suddenly thicken enough to leave obvious trails from the whisk just before it’s ready for the eggs. After you temper and add the eggs, you really need to keep the whisk moving. I had small bubbles breaking at the surface at about 2 1/2 minutes and removed the pan from the flame and added the vanilla. Then, I put the pan in the ice bath and stirred it every couple of minutes with a rubber spatula, incorporating the custard from the sides and keeping it well mixed, until it cooled which, surprisingly took less than 10 minutes.

Building the pie was very easy. I cut the bananas into circles and lined the bottom of the crust with them, then I sliced a banana lengthwise and ran it around the entire side of the crust. Next, I made another layer of banana slices followed by the final layer of custard. In all, I used 3 medium large bananas. For the whipped cream topping, I used a whisk attachment with the KitchenAid stand mixer on medium-high for about 4 minutes, slathered it on the pie, and topped it off with peanuts that I had chopped in the food processor.

This peanut butter pie is the perfect dessert for banana lovers. If you love bananas (or know someone who does), this Elvis Pie is a winner.

I began by baking this peanut butter sandies recipe from the LC site. These cookies made for a fantastic crust. After baking the cookies, I baked the bacon for 22 minutes and it came out crisp but not burnt. I added the melted butter right into the food processor bowl after crushing the peanut butter cookie crumbs and bacon together in the processor. Four one-second pulses combined the pie crust to a workable mixture.

It was then on to the filling. I followed the directions and found the resulting filling to be as thick as a cooked and cooled pudding or custard. Because the filling was so thick, it didn’t stream into the egg yolks but rather plopped. The 3 minutes of cooking after warming and adding the eggs was perfect. I sliced the bananas into coin shapes. I placed half the bananas on the top of the crust, and then I dolloped half of the filling on those bananas and spread it evenly. The whipped cream topping was light and not too sweet.

Peanut butter pie: a homemade banana pudding topped with peanut-butter cream and peanuts in a peanut butter and bacon crust. Wow. I figured it would be good, but I was surprised and impressed by just how fantastic the results were. This recipe produced quite possibly the best pudding I have ever made. The total package made for a special dessert.

For the optional peanut topping, I used chopped salted honey roasted peanuts since I had them. That added an extra little touch of sweetness to the peanut butter pie. While it was nice and I think the nuts are nice for the visual appeal, they’re not absolutely necessary. The whipped cream had a tannish hue that, in the eyes of some, may have detracted some from its visual appeal. It didn’t adversely affect the taste, though. The pie took a lot of time, but it was worth it. Elvis Pie still rates tops.

It took me 3 1/2 hours, with 1/2 hour of that being chilling time. That was starting from the time I began to preheat the oven. Then, of course, there was the additional time to make the cookies that went into the crust. I used a crumbly peanut butter cookie recipe that doesn’t include salt, since there was also going to be bacon in the crust and I didn’t want it to be too salty. It took about 1 hour at 350°F to get the bacon super crisp but not burnt. I flipped the bacon and drained the fat 3 times during that hour. I used all that bacon fat—3 tablespoons—and 2 tablespoons melted butter in the crust.

Three minutes was about right for the stage where the tempered eggs were cooked with the milk, but I had to turn the heat to low after 1 minute because it got too close to boiling. It had a perfect pudding texture after 3 minutes. I used all but a few slices of 2 bananas for the first layer in the pie and the remaining slices plus 2 bananas for the upper layer. It did not take long at all using a handheld mixer to get stiff peaks in the whipped cream, about 1 minute. I might have gotten my whipped cream a little beyond where it was supposed to be.