If you’re looking for a quick and easy, guaranteed to impress, homemade dessert for this weekend, I’ve got you covered. Creamy, fluffy, and silky smooth over a crunchy cookie crust, chocolate & peanut butter (the best flavor combo), and NO OVEN required… this peanut butter pie recipe has it all. My recipe is made from scratch, no Cool Whip, no gelatin, and no store-bought crust (we’re using my easy Oreo Crust instead!). Be prepared for people to ask you for the recipe.
What You Need:
Peanut butter. I use creamy peanut butter, but crunchy would work if you don’t mind the texture (personally? I think it might be a bit odd, but you do you). I have not experimented with natural peanut butter (the kind where the oil separates into the top) but from working with it in the past I would not recommend it here. Cream cheese. This not only adds excellent depth of flavor to the pie, it also helps to give it a stable, easy-to-slice consistency, without making this peanut butter pie taste like cheesecake (though, if you’re looking for one, here’s my no-bake cheesecake!). You must use brick-style cream cheese, and not the kind that’s sold as “spreadable” in tubs. Powdered sugar. I recently learned that this is often referred to as “Icing Sugar” in many places outside the US. Vanilla extract. To give the pie more flavor. Heavy cream. We’ll whip this into thick, fluffy whipped cream (and I’ll go into more detail about that below). Double cream or heavy whipping cream would also work, but I don’t advise any other substitutes with a lower fat content.
Then, of course, there’s the Oreo crust…
Make Your Own Oreo Crust
Whatever you do, do not use a store-bought crust! Not only is a pre-packaged pie crust too small to hold all of the filling we’re making today, but it’s really just so, so easy to make to make your own crust. We’re talking literally two ingredients: Oreos and butter. You just don’t get that same buttery cookie crumb when you buy a pre-made, packaged crust. If you don’t like or can’t eat chocolate, you can make my equally simple graham cracker crust, instead (or substitute the Oreo cookies for Golden Oreos or Biscoff cookies instead… yum!). There’s no need to pre-bake the crust before using, either. Simply form it and pop it in the freezer while you prepare your filling.
Homemade Whipped Cream > Cool Whip
You know what really sets this peanut butter pie apart from any of the others? It’s the homemade whipped cream. Most recipes use Cool Whip to help give their pies structure (and that pillowy consistency), but we’re making our own. It not only gives the pie a better (and less artificial!) flavor, it’s incredibly simple to make (and if you’ve made my Eton Mess or Strawberry Shortcake, you’ve already done it!). It gives the pie a fluffy, creamy texture and a richer flavor (and did I mention it won’t make the pie taste artificial!?). If you haven’t whipped cream before ordered have questions about stiff peaks or any other aspect of the process, check out my guide on how to make whipped cream.
Freezer Vs. Refrigerator
You can either refrigerate or freeze. Refrigerating requires at least 4-6 hours of chilling. The pie firms up nicely and has a consistency that’s soft, similar to my chocolate pie. Most recipes call for refrigeration rather than freezing. Freezing requires at least 2 hours of chilling. Frozen peanut butter pie ends up even more firm than when refrigerated and has a consistency that’s closer to my cheesecake or chocolate icebox pie. The photos in this post were of a frozen pie. The original photos shown below the recipe were of a refrigerated pie, if that helps you judge the consistency better!
Storing & Serving
Regardless of whether you keep your pie in the refrigerator or freezer, cover it well with plastic wrap. It will keep in the fridge for about 5 days, or in the freezer for about a month. Peanut butter pie softens fairly quickly at room temperature, especially during the hot summer months. Because of this, I recommend keeping it chilled whenever you aren’t slicing it (no matter where you store it).
Toppings
First, let me be perfectly clear: This pie is perfect without any toppings. It’s silky smooth, creamy, and fluffy over a crunchy Oreo crust so all of your flavor and texture bases are covered. However, after making and chilling the pie, I like to pipe a decorative border (I use a 2A tip) of homemade whipped cream around the edge and then sprinkle that with crushed Reese’s Pieces. It adds a nice extra pop of color, but again, totally optional. Alternatively you could drizzle your slice with homemade caramel sauce or chocolate sauce (one of my favorite additions)… yum!
More Recipes You Might Enjoy:
Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie Buckeye Recipe Peanut Butter Fudge Peanut Butter Bars BEST Peanut Butter Cookies
Enjoy! Don’t forget to watch the how-to VIDEO in the recipe card, where I make this pie in my own kitchen! If you try this recipe, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think! This recipe was originally published 08/10/2017, post updated to include more tips and information and a video! Original photos below.
