Danielle's Peanut Butter Pie

This pie gets a big two thumbs up from me! YUM!!

Not only is it super tasty, but at an hour and a half, it's the quickest recipe I've tried yet! The recipe was really easy to follow and easily surpassed my expectations.

I only made one change to the recipe as I made it. It called for about 1.5 cups of crushed cookies, but I just smashed up my whole package which turned out to be maybe close to 2.5 cups of crushed cookies. To make up for the extra cookies, I used a whole stick of melted butter.

Also, I would recommend starting out with just a half batch of the hot fudge sauce. I made a half batch figuring I could make more hot fudge later if I needed to (it's super easy to make), but I'm certain the half batch will be plenty for the whole pie.

Oh and one more suggestion. You might want to try adding a little bit of cream to the chocolate that goes between the pie crust and the filling. Once it's chilled, that chocolate layer turns pretty solid and is really hard to cut through with a fork. I ended up shooting crumbs across the table when I broke through the chocolate layer on my first bite. I learned to be more careful after that, but it's still a little precarious trying to cut through the chocolate. So I think a softer chocolate layer is something I'll try next time, maybe something closer to the consistency of the refrigerated hot fudge.

Peanut Butter Pie

For this week, I've chosen the Peanut Butter Pie from the Baked book (p100). I am so excited to be joining this baking group because I LOVE this book and can't wait to try as many recipes in it as possible. It makes me happy to know that there are other Baked fanatics out there :) I have a blog of my own, Occasional Sugar and am very new to the baking/blogging world and very eager to learn all that I can from other experienced bakers/bloggers.

I have an event this Saturday that I will be bringing this pie to for dessert so my post will come later in the week.

When did you start baking / cooking?
I started baking with my mom when I was very young. We'd bake chocolate chip cookies. She would measure out the ingredients and let me throw them in the bowl. Of course, my favorite part was sampling the dough. I remember once in 5th grade, my mom snuck some cookie dough into my packed lunch. My teacher was so appalled that my mom would do such a thing, like she had packed me rat poison or something. My mom and I still laugh about how ridiculous she was.

What is your favorite kitchen tool?
Oh man, I LOVE to buy new gadgets. I call this condition GAS (Gear Acquiring Syndrome). Of course I love my KitchenAid Standing Mixer, but I also get very excited when I think about my Progressive Cherry-It Pitter. Pit four cherries at once with no mess!

Do you have a favorite spice? If so, what is it?
Cardamom. I would love to try more recipes that use it.

What is your favorite book?
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
I would be so happy if I could take some time off and backpack through South America. I'm just dying to see Machu Picchu and Patagonia.

If you had to change your first name right now, what would you change it to?
No change, I like my name :)

Where do you currently live?
Walnut Creek, California

Where are you from?
The same place I currently live.

If you could eat one thing for every meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Dim Sum!!