Reese’s Peanut Butter Cream Pie (No cream cheese)
Reese’s peanut butter cream pie is the dessert of decadence. With each ingredient made from scratch, there aren’t any shortcuts here (and no cream cheese!) but the big flavor delivery is so worth it. Creamy peanut butter pastry cream, homemade whipped cream and a layer of chocolate tucked into a pretzel crust is truly a celebration.
If you dig in to most of the peanut butter cream pie recipes you find online, you’ll be pretty disappointed to see that they use a lot of cheap shortcuts. Cool Whip, instant pudding or cream cheese are often used to to firm up the texture. Unfortunately these ingredients taste a lot like the bottom of a shoe.
If you’re going to make something that’s meant to be delicious, do it right.
That’s why we’re going to make this big Reese’s baby from scratch. To make things easier on yourself, you can make the pastry cream a day or two in advance. It’s one less recipe to make the day of. Or…dig in and do it all at once.
Let’s start with peanut butter pastry cream
Make the pastry cream first because it needs to chill and set before going in the peanut butter pie. Start by heating the milk, half and half and sugar. It should be just steaming around the edges and have gentle bubbles but not be boiling.
Add the warm milk to a separate bowl with the whisked eggs and cornstarch. Do this SLOWLY while you whisk the entire time. Add the egg mixture back into the pot and heat over medium while you stir constantly–5 to 7 minutes until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Once the pastry cream is thick, transfer the mixture through a sieve to catch anything that didn’t dissolve or bits of egg that may have formed. It’s normal for there to be a few.
Now add those delicious flavorings to this amazing peanut butter pastry cream. Stir in vanilla, butter and peanut butter chips while the mixture is still warm and stir until everything is melted and combined. The chips may melt a little easier if you add them to the pastry cream then wait about five minutes before stirring.
Let the mixture cool about 20 minutes on the counter then cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream so it doesn’t form a skin and refrigerate until totally cold–at least 4 hours but up to two days.
Make the pretzel crust
On the day you want to assemble, make the crust. Crush unsalted pretzels, butter and light brown sugar together in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor crush the pretzels in a zip lock bag with a heavy skillet then add to a bowl and stir in the butter and sugar.
Press the mixture into a 9 inch pie plate. I don’t recommend purchasing a store bought graham cracker crust for this because they are way too small and too shallow to hold the filling.
Bake the crust 8-10 minutes and then let it cool while you make the ganache.
Simple chocolate ganache
This layer of rich chocolate ganache is next. It will serve as a moisture barrier between the crust and the pastry cream and add flavor depth. Make sure your crust is ready to go because you’ll want to pour this mixture over it once the ganache is mixed.
Simply bring cream to a simmer, turn off the heat and add vanilla and chocolate chips. Stir until the chocolate melts and then pour over the crust.
Work some of the ganache up the sides of the crust. You don’t want this layer to be excessively thick; maybe 1/8-1/4″ thick or so. If you have leftover ganache use it to make an amazing chocolate cake frosting and use a bit on the top of this peanut butter cream pie for decoration too.
Add some chopped Reese’s cups to this layer before the ganache sets. Let the crust with the chocolate sit at room temperature until firm and totally cool.
Once the chocolate is room temperature, spread in that amazing peanut butter pastry cream. Be gentle here so you don’t knock your Reese’s cups out of place.
Make stabilized whipped cream
Because we aren’t using Cool Whip, you’ll need to stabilize your homemade whipped cream so it doesn’t deflate and ooze out of your pie. To do this, you’ll dissolve a bit of gelatin powder in water. You can get gelatin anywhere or you can buy it on Amazon.
Add this mixture to the cream, then beat to stiff peaks with vanilla and powdered sugar.
Spread on top of the pastry cream then add more chopped Reese’s Cups, chopped peanuts and a drizzle of remaining chocolate ganache to the top.
I would personally cover the entire pie loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or so before serving. Try not to eat more than one piece!
How far in advance can this Reese’s peanut butter pie be made?
1-2 days would probably be the max. Any longer than that and your pretzel crust may start getting quite soft. The ganache is serving as a bit of a moisture barrier, but you can’t keep all moisture away.
Can you freeze peanut butter pie?
I feel like this is a hard call. When real dairy is frozen and then thawed, it can split. I have never frozen this pie to test it and I just fear that because it’s made with real ingredients that it would be watery.
Now that said…if you use Cool Whip and other shortcut ingredients like instant pudding it will freeze just fine. There’s a price to be paid for quality here and not freezing will just have to be it.
How to swap in shortcut ingredients
I don’t know why I’d bother discussing this, but if you want to use Cool Whip in place of the real whipped cream you can do that. Just don’t tell me about it. 😉
The peanut butter pastry cream could be swapped for a blend of instant vanilla pudding, cream cheese, powdered sugar and peanut butter blended together.
And yes, a store bought graham cracker crust could be used but this recipe will likely make two.
Other candy ideas to try
Reese’s cups are perfect here but any other peanut candy would be equally good. Imagine chopped Snickers bars or Payday in this baby!
Or…how do you feel about going a little Elvis and adding some sliced bananas instead of candy? That would be amazing and worth a try.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cream Pie
Ingredients
Crushed pretzel crust
- 3 1/2 cups plain (unsalted) small pretzels
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
Peanut butter pastry cream
- 1 cup milk
- 1 1/2 cups half and half
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 5 large eggs
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup peanut butter chips
Chocolate ganache
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Whipped cream
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cold water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons plain gelatin
- 2 cups cold heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar sifted
Additional ingredients
- 3/4 cup Coarsely chopped Reese’s cups for layering and garnish
Instructions
For the peanut butter pastry cream
- Add milk, half and half and 1/4 cup sugar to a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stir to dissolve sugar.
- Whisk cornstarch, egg yolks, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a large bowl; about 2 minutes. Gradually add the milk mixture to the egg yolks whisking as you pour. Whisk in the salt.
- Pour the mixture back into the pot bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly, 5 to 7 minutes until thickened.
- Transfer to a bowl by pouring through a strainer to get any cooked egg. Add the vanilla, butter and peanut chips and stir until melted and combined. Cool 1 hour on the counter then cover the surface with plastic wrap and cool at least 4 hours or overnight.
Make the crushed pretzel crust
- Crush the pretzels finely with a food processor or in a zip lock bag down to the texture of bread crumbs.
- Heat the butter and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter melts; pour over the pretzels. Stir to combine and transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Use a glass or measuring cup to press the mixture evenly across the bottom and up the sides.
- Preheat the oven to 350 and bake the crust 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool.
Chocolate ganache
- In a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over medium high heat. Remove the cream from heat and add the vanilla and chocolate chips. Let the mixture stand 5 minutes then stir until smooth.
- Pour the chocolate ganache over crumb crust to between 1/8 and 1/4" thick. Use the back of a spoon to spread it part way up the sides of the crust too. Set aside.
Whipped cream
- In a small bowl, add the gelatin to the water and let stand 5 minutes. Then heat in the microwave in 5 to 6 second increments, stirring in between until the gelatin melts and you can't see it in the water anymore. Set aside until lukewarm.
- Once the gelatin is cooled, pour the cream and vanilla into a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer 3 to 4 minutes. Add the sugar and gelatin. Beat to stiff peaks and set aside or refrigerate until ready to assemble.
To assemble
- Assemble only when all components are cooled as instructed.
- Scatter a handful of peanut butter cups over the ganache layer in the crust.
- Add the peanut butter cream layer without disturbing the peanut butter cups. Mound the whipped cream in the middle and top with more chopped peanut butter cups, optional peanuts, and drizzle some remaining ganache on top.
- Refrigerate the pie loosely covered with plastic wrap until ready to serve. Can be made 1-2 days in advance.