In honor of Pi Day, I promised to bring in a pie today for my colleagues. I got all the ingredients on Friday after work and was excited to try something new and then devise a way to lug it on my commute with me. Unfortunately, while springing forward this weekend, I fell right into a pile of the flu which means that I’m home sick today, staring at a nearly whole delicious pie, with no appetite.
Despite having just woken up from my eighth nap since 5am today, I’m pretty determined to share this pie with you on the right day because it’s a GOOD pie. I had a pretty full cooking agenda this weekend but I wanted to still be able to make a pie, so I opted for a less traditional one without rolled dough. If you asked my sister, she’d say the easiest dessert for her to make is apple pie (with homemade crust). I would only say apple pie if you asked me what dessert I could make that would be pretty good and so frustrating as to almost not be worth it.
So instead, I opted for a non-fruit pie with a cookie crumb crust. First of all, whoever invented cookie crumb crust was an absolute genius. I honestly can’t think of anything better than the taste of cookie dust mixed with melted butter (browned to nutty perfection in this case!). I always have to have a talk with myself about how if I taste too much of it during the preparation I will ruin the entire pie as there won’t be enough crust. It’s a real problem every time. This recipe calls for 11 ounces of Nilla wafers, exactly one box, and in a magnificent feat of self control I did not sample a single one of them.
I was eyeing this pie with equal parts enthusiasm and skepticism when reading the recipe…it looked delicious but also like the kind of pie I’d mess up by underbaking. I’m happy to say it’s utter perfection – there are definitely a few steps you need to take care of (pie crust, ganache, filling) but I don’t think it’s nearly as fussy as your average pie and it’s not going to taste different if it’s, like, raining out (hello, traditional pie crust). It’s super rich and kind of like eating a Snickers bar in pie form, but if a Snickers bar was wrapped in a buttery cookie.
I hope that, unlike me, you have a ravenous appetite today and a number of pies at the ready to celebrate this completely ridiculous but delicious holiday. Happy Pi Day!
Note: This calls for a 10-inch pie plate. Make sure that's what you use, this makes a lot of crust and filling. Second, if your crust starts to brown too much, just make a tin foil shield around the sides so you can still get a nice browned center.
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- One 11-oz. box vanilla wafer cookies
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 vanilla beans- split lengthwise, seeds scraped
- 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 4 teaspoons molasses
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups unsalted roasted peanuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Melt the butter in a saucepan over moderately low heat and cook, swirling, until browned, 9 minutes; let cool. Process the cookies, sugar and vanilla seeds in a food processor until finely ground. Add the browned butter and pulse until the crumbs are evenly moistened; transfer to a 10-inch glass or ceramic pie plate and press the crumbs over the bottom and up the side to form the crust. Bake for 12 minutes, until lightly browned and set; let cool completely. Increase the oven temperature to 375°.
- Put the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then stir until smooth; pour into the cooled crust and let sit for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk the sugar, corn syrup, butter, molasses, salt and eggs, then stir in the peanuts. Pour the filling over the chocolate. Transfer the pie to a foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325° and bake the pie for 50 minutes longer, until the filling is almost set. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely, 4 hours.
Notes
https://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2016/03/14/black-bottom-peanut-pie/
