tish's chocolate peanut butter cloud pie.

So. A couple of days ago, I logged in to my photobucket account, all ready to edit the pictures for this post and I got s.h.o.c.k.e.d. The photo editor has been replaced by a new version. I was upset. Yeah of course I was upset- despite being born in the era in which the Internet made its mega debut, I am strangely, sadly, a technology idiot. It takes me forever to get used to a certain computer function, and eons to adapt to a newer version of it. Plus, the focus tool thingy I relied on and loved so much is now gone! I lamented the loss of my beloved photo editor, but now I guess there's no choice but to get used to this new version.

Change. The only thing constant is change. Well, I hope my love for sweets never alters!

This is a pie. A chocolate and peanut butter pie. Well duh. Needless to say as well, the pie was delish and I especially loved the peanut butter mousse (I'm a sucker for almost anything that has peanut butter in it). It was rich, uber creamy and surprisingly dense despite the addition of whipped cream. The chocolate filling in comparison is denser and also sticky in a cooled-hot-fudge kind of way. I was supposed to top it off with a mound of whipped cream but as you can see, the peanut butter mousse was threatening to overflow already.

If I had one thing to nitpick at, it would be the crust. It seemed like a sturdy crust at first but after scraping the the chocolate and peanut butter fillings in and chilling it for only a few hours, the crust softened and bent a little whenever I picked it up. I didn't realize how relatively bad this sort of crust would take to moisture when I first read the recipe. It's because of the leavenings. The leavenings cause a whole lot more of tiny air pockets to dot the crust and these very pockets allow moisture to seep in, making the crust soggy. I'm so glad that I made the crust thick enough that it still retains enough structural integrity even for more than 24 hours after being filled. If you make this recipe, try to eat the pie as soon as after the components have set.

Tish's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cloud Pie
makes a 9 inch pie
adapted from Baking by Flavour

For the peanut butter cookie crust:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Prepare a 9 inch pie pan.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

Cream the butter and peanut butter together until combined. Add the sugars and beat until combined and slightly pale and fluffy. Stir in the egg yolk and vanilla extract. Stir in the flour mixture until combined. At this point, you can either chill the dough until firm, roll it out into a 1/2 inch thick disk and press it into the pie pan or just take the dough as it is now and press it into the pan. Regardless of the method you choose, the pie crust then has to be chilled for 45 minutes after it has been fitted into the pan.

Preheat oven to 375F. Bake the crust for 13 to 15 minutes or until it is golden brown around the edges. Place the pan on a rack to cool completely.

For the chocolate-peanut butter mousse filling:
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely
1 3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream, chilled

Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl.

Whisk the cornstarch, sugar, salt and egg yolks together in a bowl. Heat the milk in a saucepan on low heat until it starts to simmer. Slowly stream the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the combined mixtures back into the saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. When the mixture has thickened, remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract.

Remove 1 cup of the mixture and stir it into the chopped chocolate until homogenous. Scrape the chocolate filling into the cooled pie crust and refrigerate until set, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Scrape the remaining peanut butter pastry cream into a bowl, cover with clingwrap with it touching the pastry cream's surface and refrigerate until cool but not set, about 45 minutes.

Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks hold and fold into the cooled peanut butter pastry cream. Spread it on top of the chocolate filling. Chill until set, 4 to 6 hours.

For the whipped cream topping:
1 cup heavy cream, chilled
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whip the cream until it just begins to mound. Add the sugar and vanilla extract and whip until softly firm peaks firm. Top the pie off with the whipped cream and chill for another hour.