PIE-A-DAY #40
Too hot to bake? Summer cake lovers have long just slathered cream on wafers – look ma, no oven! The classic icebox cake only asks for some time in the freezer.
Kierin Baldwin of The Dutch in New York City, however, does use an oven. She bakes her own wafers, and she makes good use of her freezer too. Most importantly, she makes an icebox pie.
Read her recipe for Peanut Butter Icebox Pie below, and click here to enter YOUR delicious pie (or pies) in the 4th Annual Good Food Pie Contest on Saturday, September 8th at LACMA.
Peanut Butter Icebox Pie
(From Kierin Baldwin of The Dutch)
At The Dutch we make our own chocolate wafers to grind into chocolate cookie crumbs, but plain, unfilled chocolate wafer cookies can be surprisingly hard to find at your average supermarket. Because of this, I made a recipe using chocolate creme filled Oreos, which are very easy to find.
At The Dutch we serve this with a caramel sauce, Chili-Lime Granita and fresh mint. The granita and mint give it a refreshing savory/spicy element that goes so well with the flavor of peanuts, but the pie alone is still a classic summer treat that can really cool you off on a hot day.
Chocolate Crumb Crust
1 ½ cups Chocolate Creme Oreo Crumbs (approx 12 cookies)
2 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
3 Tbsp Cocoa Nibs
½ tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Butter, melted
Pulse the Oreos in a food processor until they are reduced to rough crumbs. Add the remaining dry ingredients and pulse them to incorporate, then sprinkle the melted butter into it and pulse once or twice to mix it in completely. Pour the crumb mixture out into a pie plate and spread evenly out over the bottom and up the sides. Gently press the crumbs down until you have an evenly thick shell and then form a nice clean top edge that is about even with the top of the pie plate.
Bake the crust at 325o F for about 12-14 minutes, until the center has become firm when pressed and the crust looks dry. Cool completely before filling.
Peanut Butter Mousse
1 ¼ cup Unsalted Peanuts, toasted
3 Tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter
¼ cup Sugar
½ tsp Salt
¼ cup Grapeseed oil
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 Large Egg
3 Large Egg Yolks
½ cup Sugar
¼ tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
¼ tsp Salt
Toast the peanuts at 325o F until they are golden and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Allow to cool completely and then place them along with the peanut butter, sugar and salt in a food processor. Process until the peanuts have broken down to the size of lentils and then slowly pour in the grapeseed oil while the machine is still running. Once the oil has been blended in, process the mixture until it is a loose, ever-so-slightly chunky peanut butter. (The chunks of peanut should be like large grains of sand.) Place in a large bowl and set aside at room temperature.
Next, whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks and set aside in the refrigerator.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the egg, yolks and salt. Using a whisk attachment, whip the egg mixture until it is stiff. (You can start this before you complete the next steps, since it will take a bit of time to whip up and is not in danger of overwhipping.) Put the sugar in a small saucepot and add just enough water to it to make a thick, wet sand. Place on the stove over medium/high heat and bring to a boil. Cook the syrup until it reaches 240o F on a candy thermometer. Remove the syrup from the heat and carefully stream it down the side of the bowl into the whipped eggs while the mixer is running on medium/high speed. Continue mixing until it has reached room temperature, then add the vanilla bean paste.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold the whipped eggs into the peanut mixture, adding one half at a time to prevent the eggs from deflating. Next, fold in the the whipped cream until it is completely incorporated. Pour the peanut mousse into the pie shell, smooth the top with a spatula, and then immediately place in the freezer. Allow it to freeze for at least 6 hours before moving on to the next step.
Chocolate Shell
6 ounces Good quality dark chocolate 65-70%
2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
Combine the chocolate and oil in a microwave safe bowl and microwave just until the chocolate has melted. Stir together completely. (It’s usually best to melt the chocolate in 30 second bursts, stirring in between, to make sure that the chocolate doesn’t burn.)
Working on a piece of parchment paper, take your frozen pie out of the freezer and pour or decoratively drizzle the shell over the top. Allow any excess chocolate to run off the sides of the pie onto the parchment. Place the pie back in the freezer until you serve it.)
(This recipe makes more than you need for one pie, but you can save this and use it again just by heating it up to melt it.)