Foodie Fridays: Peanut Butter Pie with Pretzel Crust

Oh my, such a beautiful pie!

I am a peanut butter addict, and one of my favorite snack foods is peanut butter-filled pretzel nuggets.  So it is no surprise that when I found this recipe for Peanut Butter Pie with Pretzel Crust it quickly became another favorite!  It doesn't hurt that the recipe is quick and easy, and that the pie filling is one of the best I have ever tasted.  Now that warm weather has finally arrived, I have a feeling this dessert will be making an appearance on our table quite often during the coming months!

Peanut Butter Pie with Pretzel Crust

2 C. pretzel crumbs (about 5 oz. of pretzels)
2 T. sugar
6 T. butter, melted
1 C. heavy cream
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow cream
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 C. creamy peanut butter

Crush the pretzels in a blender.  Add the sugar and butter and mix well.  Press the mixture into a 10-inch pie plate.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes, then cool.

Whip the cream.  Combine the remaining ingredients and fold in the whipped cream.  Pour the filling into the cooled crust.  Freeze until firm (once the filling has set, you can store the pie in the refrigerator).  If desired, serve slices drizzled with chocolate syrup.  Serves 6-8.

Note: I used H.K. Anderson Ultrathin Pretzel Stix and crushed them in my mini-food processor.  The crumbs were not quite fine enough, so I ended up (gently) crushing them a little more with my metal meat tenderizer in the pie plate before adding the sugar and butter.  A blender or large food processor may do a better job, or go the old-fashioned route and use a rolling pin on plastic-bagged pretzels.  Traditional-shaped pretzels may work better, but don't use pretzel logs (I did the first time I made this and they are far too hard!).

For some reason I have a tendency to make way too many pretzel crumbs, so I used my biggest pie plate.  If you only have a 9-inch plate, reduce the amount of pretzel crumbs to 1 1/2 cups.  And if you prefer, use a graham cracker or chocolate cookie crumb crust instead.

On the nose!

Above the eye!

I'm sure my girls would never forgive me if they knew I had posted these too-candid photos of their close encounters with the whipped cream, but what they don't know won't hurt them, right?  They do enthusiastically agree with their human that peanut butter pie filling is the best ever, though!