No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pie

It felt wrong not to make something sweet this weekend. Sure, baking that many cookies was a lot but I still wanted to bake. I mean, that's why I started this blog to begin with. Baking is a great passion and hobby of mine. I love it. It felt like a great disservice to myself to skip a bake over the weekend. So, during a quick trip (never truly is a quick trip) to the grocery store, my wandering eyes landed on an already made graham cracker crust and I was instantly inspired. Now, I don't like pie. I've never been a big fan of it. Okay . . . that's not entirely true. I don't like fruit pie. I enjoy chocolate cream pie or a peanut butter pie, and depending who makes it, a lemon meringue pie. I knew, looking at this pre-made graham cracker crust, that this would be an easy bake for me. I'd still be baking, even though my peanut butter chocolate chip is a no bake bake, and it'd make me happy. 

Making this pie, I had to do a little research. I knew I needed to make a whipped cream of sorts. Since I already had a pre-made pie crust, I wanted to make sure that I made the cream from scratch. One thing I truly love about baking is learning all the information and techniques I didn't know before. I learned that for a truly good cream pie, my whipped cream needed to have stiff peaks (that's where when you pull your mixer out of the cream, it stands straight up). I had never worked with heavy whipping cream before so that was pretty fun. I'm happy to know how to make a pretty tasty whipped cream now. 

I wanted to make peanut butter the star of this pie but I also wanted the taste of chocolate without it being too overpowering. I went back and forth in my mind on whether to use regular sized chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips. Ultimately, I went with mini so there could be more chocolate chips in every bite. And, when it comes to a peanut butter pie, it just wouldn't be the same without Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pie

Ingredients: 

1. 1 cup heavy whipping cream
2. 1 cup powdered sugar
3. 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract 
4. 1 block (8 ounces) Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
5. 1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter (I used reduced fat)
6. 1/4 teaspoon salt
7. 1 1/2 cups chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
8. 1 pre-made graham cracker pie crust
9. 2 cups mini chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups in pie, 1/2 for decoration)

Instructions: 

1. Combine heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a medium sized bowl. Using hand or stand mixer, whip until the mixture has stiff peaks. 
2. In another medium sized bowl, add the cream cheese and whip until soft and creamy. Add in the peanut butter and salt and combine until fluffy (about 2 minutes). 
3. Gently fold in the whipped cream, chocolate chips, and peanut butter cups into the peanut butter cream cheese mixture. 
4. Pour the filling into the pre-made pie crust and refrigerate for 2 hours until set. 
5. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips around the edge of the pie. 

When I first started this blog, I thought that all I would make would be cupcakes and cookies, because those two baked goods were my comfort zone. I knew how to make them taste delicious and how to make them look beautiful. And, I know that this is a no bake pie, but it was a challenge for me. It was my first time taking a step outside of my comfort zone and it turned out better than I could've imagined. I definitely see more no bake pies in my future! 

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