Peanut Butter Pie

My dear friend, Julie Trent, made this pie for a church dinner and my husband fell in love with it. We had some family visiting this evening so I decided to make this pie as a special treat...boy did it get rave reviews! Grandma Ros even requested it for our family's Thanksgiving Eve Pie Night. Thanks Julie, we sure love this pie and you can't beat a good dessert made from ingredients that are always in the pantry!

Julie uses a standard flour and shortening pie crust, but I really prefer a different one; more like a sugar cookie crust.

Pie Crust

1 egg
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces

1. Grease a 9 inch pie pan.
2. In a small bowl, mix egg and sugar together. In a separate bowl, combine salt and flour. Cut in butter. Stir in egg mixture, then knead dough into a smooth ball.
3. Keep refrigerated for 15 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
5. Pat dough evenly into pie pan, no need to roll.
6. Bake in oven for 20 minutes.

Pie Filling

3 eggs, separated
3/4 c sugar, divided
3 T cornstarch
1 T Flour
1/8 t salt
3 c milk
2 t butter
1 t vanilla
3/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c peanut butter (I use crunchy)
1/4 t cream of tartar

Separate eggs. In saucepan combine 1/2 c sugar, cornstarch, flour, & salt. Add egg yolks & milk. Bring to boil over med. heat. Cook, stirring 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla.

Cut peanut butter into powdered sugar. Sprinkle 1/3 peanut butter crumbs over bottom of crust. Spoon 1/2 filling over crumbs. Sprinkle 1/3 crumbs, top w/ remaining filling.

Combine egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat until foamy. Beat in remaining sugar until peaks form. Spread meringue over pie. Sprinkle on remaining peanut butter crumbs. Bake 8-10 minutes @ 375 until meringue is light golden. Cool completely.

The Cool completely. step is actually the hardest part of the whole process.

I was able to get a picture, but not before half the pie was already missing. And even though I warned everyone that it should cool more, the compliments kept flooding in about how good it was, even a bit warm. The peanut butter flavor really comes through once it's cool, though.