Swede Heart Dinner Part 2

Individual Peanut Butter Pie

Individual Peanut Butter Pies

Yield: 8 mini pies

Prep: 25 min

Chill: 3hrs

Ingredients:

Crust:

  16 Oreos

  4 Tablespoons butter (unsalted, melted)

Filling:

  1 Cup heavy cream
  8 Ounces cream cheese, softened
  1 Cup creamy-style peanut butter
  1 Cup confectioner's sugar
  1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

  

Directions:

 Crust:   Put Oreos in food processor and pulse until it is a fine crumb.  Put the crumbs in a small bowl and mix with melted butter.  Divide evenly into dishes.  Press the crust into the bottom of dishes.

Filling:  In an electric mixer, whisk heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks.  Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and set in the refrigerator.  Put cream cheese and peanut butter in the mixer bowl and beat on medium until it is smooth.  Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the confectioner's sugar; make sure to scrape the side of the bowl as needed.  Add the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla.  Beat on medium until mixture smooth and creamy.  On low speed add 1/3 whipped cream until incorporated.  Then fold in remaining whipped cream until it is completely incorporated.  Divide evenly between the dishes, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.  Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls or shavings if desired.

It is always hard for me to pick a dessert for our family.  I am a chocoholic.  Anything with chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate is my kind of dessert.  My husband prefers caramel or something with strawberries.  Trying to find a balance that we both enjoy can be difficult.  We both really like Muddy Buddies or as my husband calls them, Puppy Chow, so I thought this recipe would be something we would both enjoy.  As it turns out, we did. :)
My daughter, Tova, "helped" me make these for our dinner.  Her "help" consisted of hugging the mixer, kissing the mixer, and moving her head in a circular motion when the mixer was on.  She also was willing to sacrifice and test a couple Oreos to make sure they were okay.  What a helper!!!  I made these in two different sized glasses for our dinner.  I put my husband's and my dessert in martini glasses, and the others in small little punch style glasses.

My little 4th of July punch glasses

I found it difficult to press the crumbs with my hands since the butter in the mixture made the crumbs slide around.  It just so happened that my everyday drinking glasses fit perfectly inside the individual glasses and also worked great for the martini glasses.  YAY!!!  I would recommend finding something circular that will work before you put the crumb mixture into the glasses that way you wont have to worry about the possibility of needing to transfer them if it doesn't work.  I pipped the mixture into my dishes, but you can spoon it in as well.  I found pipping it gave it a smoother and more even look.  I don't have a big pipping bag so I used a gallon Ziploc bag and snipped a little bit of the corner off one end.  Then into the fridge they went.  I forgot to cover my glasses, but for 3 hours it didn't matter.  I would recommend covering them if you don't plan to eat them right after their chilling time.  I garnished them with whipped cream and chocolate shavings for my daughter and husband, but left off the whipped cream on mine.  Either way, I thought it was good.
This recipe was very easy to make.  I enjoyed the flavor of it.  I found it to have a fluffiness to it even though it is a very rich and "heavy" dessert. I think the small glasses are the best choice for serving sizes.  The martini glasses were way too big, but I think they looked great.
This was such a fun dinner to make this year.  Every dish I prepared was a new recipe for me.  I felt like such a risk taker.  I hope this tradition stays in our family for many many years and continues to provide such wonderful memories... and good food of course!

(Recipe source: http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/peanut-butter-pie-recipe/)