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.
Let that cool completely. Whenever you have more time, start preparing your filling.
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!
Follow Mom It Down on Twitter!
Mihow 
Leave a reply to Kelly Cancel reply