I first began making this pie back in 2005 while on the South Beach Diet. I had a tough time giving up sweets. So, I did a little research and found something that worked with phase three of the diet. While I stopped following South Beach, the pie remained. I now pair a sugar version with a low-carb almond crust.
This pie isn’t for everyone. My husband doesn’t particularly like it because he’s not crazy about cheese cheese. I love it. It’s wheat-free a low-carb version is easy if you’re willing to use Splenda or another sugar substitute. (More on that later.)
I’m going to share the NON low-carb version of this pie today. Later, I’ll explain how to make a low-carb version.
What you will need
- Mixer
- Pie pan
Ingredients
Pie crust (Taken from About.com)
- 1 and 1/2 cups almond meal or almond flour
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Pie Filling
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy! And preferably all-natural)
- 1 8 oz package of cream cheese
- 1 cup of powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 4 oz of frozen whipped cream (non-dairy or dairy)
Mom it down!
This recipe is really quite simple as is. I made this pie just last night while Toby Joe was at the gym and Emory was dry-Swiffering our floors.
Preheat your oven to 350. Take your butter and microwave it until it’s melted. Add the almond flour and sugar to the mixer. Give that a quick spin. Pour your butter into the mixer until it saturates the almond meal. (The final dough will be very crumbly. That’s normal.)
Take that crumbly dough and slowly mash it down along your pie pan. I work from the center out. This is by far the most time-consuming part. You can be as precise as you’d like. Here is a rough idea of how the pre-cooked pie crust will look.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. (I baked mine for 15 minutes, adding a foil ring to protect the edges after 10 minutes.)
The crust isn’t going to win any beauty awards. But it certainly does its job. Plus, it tastes great. You really can’t ask for much more from a pie crust.
Cut your cream cheese up into smaller pieces. Add that to your mixer. Add the peanut butter. Mix that up until it’s combined.
Add the milk and powdered sugar.
Fold in the frozen whipped cream with the mixer on its slowest speed. (Or you can do this by hand. It’s up to you.)
Once that’s good and fluffy and combined, spoon it into your pie crust. Adorn with peanuts or chocolate chips. Put the pie in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. (The longer the better just because it will solidify more making serving much easier.)
Overcoming Obstacles
As I mentioned earlier, the most time-consuming part of this recipe is mashing down the crumbly almond piecrust. I wish I had the trick to make this even easier. I don’t. But everything else is so simple, I guess that makes up for it. The only thing I can say is that I substitute looks for taste (as I’ve done in the past). So, if you’re not trying to impress someone, just make sure its functional!
I have also skipped the part where you chop up the cream cheese. It’s not necessary, especially if you have a mixer.
Everything else is super easy. I don’t have any more suggestions as how to simplify this recipe any further.
Variations
Yes! You can make a diet-friendly version of this pie as long as you’re not opposed to baking with Splenda (or a similar sugar substitute). So, if cutting carbs/calories is your thing, this recipe is for you! Simply replace the sugar with the substitute. PLEASE NOTE! I would recommend NOT doing a one-to-one ratio substitution. I have found that sugar substitutes are far, far sweeter than sugar. So, if you’re using something like Splenda, cut the amount in half and just continue to taste the mixture before adding more.
Substituting a low-fat (or vegan) cream cheese works perfectly. (Although, I haven’t tried the vegan cream cheese.) Doing so cuts down on the fat content and there is a great deal of fat in this baby!
Similarly, there is also a (very) low-calorie non-dairy whipped cream topping that I used to make this with, cutting calories even more. Unfortunately, the brand name escapes me at this time. But I will update this recipe when I remember.
That’s it! Please let me know if you have any suggestions and/or comments.
Also, happy Memorial Day, fellow Americans!
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I bet the almond crust is delicious! It sounds to me like crunchy peanut butter would work nicely in this recipe, too, to add a little internal crunch to the filling.
How is Murray? an earlier post of yours that i could only see in googlereader said he’d eaten a balloon??
Ahhh…this is gluten-free!! Seriously. You should advertise it as GF and people will flock to your site to try and get a decent recipe. I have tried unsuccessfully to make GF pie crusts before, but I’m certainly going to bookmark this and make it as my next culinary (mis?)adventure!! Thanks a lot for posting it.
Thanks, NGS! I changed the title. I wondered about that—writing Gluten-Free instead of Wheat-Free. But then it must have skipped my mind! Even Emory can eat this without having any issues! (We’re trying to give him gluten free stuff.)
I’m so happy you found this helpful! (And thanks for suggesting I change the title.)
Quiltcat: Murray is A-OK. We’re watching him closely and all seems totally fine. I took that post down (as well as one more) because at the time Toby Joe and I had some technical difficulties with the post numbering. (Long, boring story.) I will likely explain more about Murray’s new eating mess tomorrow. :]
What was the consistency of the crust when you tried to mash it?
I’m wondering 2 things to maybe make it easier :
1- could you maybe roll it out?
2- could you sprinkle it in a scattered way, then mash it together
also just thinking for a moment… could you add a bit of water or something that will evaporate away, just to make it a little easier to work with?
Wheat Free and Gluten Free are two different things. Gluten Free is more often than not trendier. In any event, I think you should at least name it *both*, so that people who are looking for recipes for those with wheat allergies will still find it.
Jonathan, did a celiac kick your cat or something? Gluten-free isn’t “trendy.” It’s necessary for a lot of people. Nobody signs up to be a celiac out of choice.
/vent
Thanks for the recipe, Mihow.
My 2bits on the wheat/gluten terminology: with Gluten Free one can be sure that it’s wheat free as well, whereas Wheat Free doesn’t necessarily mean Gluten Free. SO Gluten Free is more concise/efficient, no?
:D
I can’t wait to try this, though I’m not a fan of frozen whipped cream (the stuff that comes in tubs at the grocery store). Do you think plain old whipping cream could provide a similar enough result?
Chair, that was my thinking as well.
Also, Manos? That thought crossed my mind as well. I voiced it to Toby, “I wonder who in Jonathan’s life made him so angry toward celiacs?”
I wonder how this would taste with sunbutter… since we covered all the other possible substitutes! :)
Gluten Free is necessary for people who have Celiac Disease.
Celiac Disease is a serious disorder that affects a very small percentage of people in the general population.
An inordinate number of people who shop at Whole Foods and/or live in Brooklyn like to name drop “Gluten Free” quite often as if Celiac disease is the trendy new disorder.
If the statistics are right and Celiac disease does indeed only affect 1% of Americans, I should be deathly scared as 80% of people in NYC believe themselves to be affected by it. While I would wholeheartedly agree that “nobody signs up to be a celiac out of choice”, there are plenty of people who don’t have the disease, and try to lead their lives as if they do because they read about it somewhere.
In any event, I really hate arguing about this, I do it too much. But it should be noted that my point is that gluten and wheat are not dependent on one another. Gluten is the combination of two proteins found in many different cereals.
Or more simpler stated:
You can purchase gluten-free wheat.
You can purchase wheat-free gluten.
That is to say: “Gluten Free” and “Wheat Free” are mutually independent descriptors. They both serve different populations , different disorders, and different dietary and medical needs.
Emory is believed to have Wheat Allergies, which is why Michele is heavily interested in Wheat Free baking. As such, I don’t understand why she would label it as “Gluten Free”, when her specific issue isn’t with gluten, but with wheat.
Say Gluten 10 times fast, sounds like you’re drinking something.
Gluten-free wheat? I can’t say I’ve heard of that.. so it’s just bran and wheatgerm, then? Or is it a specific variety of wheat engineered/grown for the trendy celiacs? I have celiac family members so I’ll have to google it for them :)