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Peanut Butter Pie

A no-bake peanut butter pie with a fluffy filling of cream cheese, peanut butter and whipped cream in a chocolate cookie crust, chilled until it slices clean.

Prep
25 min
Rest
6 hr
Makes
One 9 in (23 cm) pie, 10 slices
Jump to the recipe
A slice of creamy pale pie on a cookie crust, held up on a server
Photo: Pablo Rodríguez / Pexels

A no-bake peanut butter pie is held up by air and fat. There are no eggs to set it and no oven to firm it, so the filling's structure comes from two things: cream cheese, which is firm when cold, and whipped cream, which traps air. Get those right and the pie slices into tall, clean wedges. Get them wrong and it slumps across the plate.

The cream cheese has to be properly soft before anything is added. Beaten cold, it forms small lumps that never smooth out once the peanut butter goes in, and the filling stays faintly gritty. An hour on the counter, then a minute of beating on its own, gives a perfectly smooth base.

Use regular creamy peanut butter, the kind with stabilizers that does not separate in the jar. Natural peanut butter tastes great on toast, but its oil separates out of the filling as it sits and leaves the pie greasy and soft. The stabilized kind blends into the cream cheese and holds.

Whipped cream is the part to treat carefully. Whip heavy cream to stiff peaks, so it stands up straight on the whisk, then fold it into the peanut butter mixture in two or three additions with a spatula. Stirring it in, or beating it with a mixer, knocks out the air the pie depends on. Fold until no white streaks remain, and stop. Whipped topping from a tub works too and holds up a little better in warm kitchens, but real cream tastes cleaner.

Powdered sugar sweetens the filling rather than granulated, because it dissolves instantly in a mixture that is never heated. Granulated sugar stays crunchy. A little vanilla and a pinch of salt sharpen the peanut flavor; peanut butter pie without salt tastes flat and overly sweet.

The crust is crushed chocolate sandwich cookies, filling and all, mixed with melted butter and pressed into the pie plate. Chocolate and peanut butter need no defending, and the dark crust looks good under the pale filling. A graham cracker crust works if you prefer a lighter, honey-flavored base. Chill the crust before filling it so the butter sets and the crust holds together when sliced.

Then patience. The pie needs six hours in the refrigerator, or overnight, to firm completely. Before that it is closer to a mousse. For the cleanest slices, dip a knife in hot water and wipe it dry between each cut.

Finish with a drizzle of chocolate ganache and chopped peanuts or peanut butter cups. For other peanut butter desserts, air fryer peanut butter cookies are ready in minutes, and turtle clusters make a no-bake candy for the same table. For a holiday spread, classic pumpkin pie covers the baked side, and lemon bars bring a sharp contrast to all that richness.

A peanut butter cup cut in half
Photo: WikimediaImages / Pixabay

The no-bake peanut butter pie card

A no-bake peanut butter pie with a fluffy filling of cream cheese, peanut butter and whipped cream in a chocolate cookie crust, chilled until it slices clean.

Cookie crust, fluffy filling and a drizzle

For the crust

  • 24 chocolate sandwich cookies, about 270 g, filling included
  • 5 tbsp (70 g) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling

  • 8 oz (225 g) full-fat cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup (250 g) creamy peanut butter, not natural style
  • 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp fine salt
  • 1¼ cups (300 ml) cold heavy cream

For the topping

  • 2 oz (55 g) semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) heavy cream
  • ¼ cup (35 g) roasted salted peanuts, chopped, or chopped peanut butter cups

Press, beat, fold gently, chill long

  1. 1 Pulse the cookies in a food processor to fine crumbs, or crush them in a sealed bag with a rolling pin. Mix with the melted butter until it looks like wet sand.
  2. 2 Press the crumbs firmly over the bottom and up the sides of a 9 in (23 cm) pie plate, using the bottom of a measuring cup. Freeze for 15 minutes while you make the filling.
  3. 3 Beat the cream cheese alone until completely smooth, about 1 minute. Add the peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt and beat until smooth and fluffy, 1–2 minutes.
  4. 4 In a separate cold bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks.
  5. 5 Fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture in three additions with a spatula, folding gently until no streaks remain.
  6. 6 Spread the filling into the chilled crust and smooth the top. Cover loosely and refrigerate at least 6 hours, or overnight.
  7. 7 Before serving, heat the ¼ cup (60 ml) cream until steaming, pour it over the chopped chocolate, wait 2 minutes and stir smooth. Let the ganache cool until barely warm, drizzle it over the pie and scatter the peanuts.
  8. 8 Slice with a knife dipped in hot water and wiped dry between cuts.

Store-bought crusts, whipped topping and freezing

  • Store-bought crust: a 9 in (23 cm) chocolate or graham cracker crust from the store saves the first two steps.
  • Whipped topping: 8 oz (225 g) thawed whipped topping can replace the whipped cream. Fold it in the same way.
  • Freezer pie: freeze the finished pie for 4 hours and serve it frozen, like an ice cream pie. Let it stand 10 minutes before slicing.
  • Make ahead: the pie keeps 4 days in the refrigerator. Add the ganache and peanuts on the day you serve it.
  • Graham crust: use 1½ cups (150 g) graham cracker crumbs, 3 tbsp sugar and 6 tbsp (85 g) melted butter.

Runny filling, natural peanut butter and lumps

The whipped cream was under-whipped or overmixed when it went in, or the pie was not chilled long enough. Whip to stiff peaks, fold gently, and chill at least 6 hours.

It is not recommended. Its oil separates as the pie sits, which makes the filling greasy and soft. Use a regular stabilized creamy peanut butter.

The cream cheese was too cold. Soften it for an hour and beat it alone until smooth before adding anything else.

Yes. Wrap it well and freeze up to 1 month. Thaw in the refrigerator for 4 hours, or serve semi-frozen.