Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Sometimes, life just gets you down.  The kids get sick. You lose your wallet.  Or your keys.  Or both.  The basement floods. Your child is on his fourth outfit and 5th major temper tantrum of the day.  And it's not even noon.  The toilet overflows.  The car dies.   The computer crashes.  The dinner burns.  Sometimes, the Man just crusheth.

You know what makes it better?

Chocolate. Peanut. Butter. Pie.

Seriously.  Was there ever a better match made in foodie-heaven than chocolate and peanut butter?  Or one more comforting?  Well. Cut yourself a little slice of heaven, pour a hot cup of strong coffee and enjoy a few moments of delicious solitude.

It may seem like there are a lot of steps to this dessert.  Each step, however, is relatively quick, straight forward and easy to do in advance.  So make the dough one day.  Roll it out and bake it the next.  Make the filling and let the whole thing sit in the fridge overnight to set.  Invest a few minutes over a couple of days and you'll have a show-stopping dessert that you can keep in the fridge all week - if it lasts that long...

Ingredients:

For the crust:


1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened coco powder, plus more for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks), chilled, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
2 tbs, plus 2 tsp of ice water

For the filling: 

1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Special equipment: 12-inch round tart shell, preferably with a removable bottom.  

Directions:

Make the pastry.  Combine the flour, powdered sugar, coco, salt and baking soda in the work bowl of a food processor.  Pulse a few times to blend.  Add the cold butter chunks and pulse until it forms pea-sized crumbs.  Add the ice water and pulse just until the dough comes together.  Turn out the dough and shape into a disk.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Roll out the dough on a sheet of parchment paper dusted with coco powder.  Add more coco to the surface of the dough, or the rolling pin, to prevent sticking.  Gently fit the dough into the tart shell, paper side up.  Peel off the paper and carefully press the dough into the pan.  Roll the rolling pin over the top of the shell to cut off the excess dough.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Preheat the over to 350 degrees.  Butter a piece of aluminum foil large enough to cover the tart and place the foil butter-side down on top of the pastry dough.  Weigh the foil down with dried beans, rice, or pie weights.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until a tooth pick inserted in the dough comes out clean.  Let cool completely.

Make the filling.  Either by hand or with a mixer, whisk 3/4 cup of the heavy cream in a large bowl to stiff peaks.  Transfer the whipped cream to another container and refrigerate.  In the same large mixing bowl, add the cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth (4-5 minutes).  Using a spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture.  Spread evenly into the chocolate pastry shell.  Cover the tart with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap against the filling (to prevent a skin from forming).  Refrigerate for several hours, until set, or overnight.

Put the 6 ounces of chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.  In a small saucepan, heat the remaining 3/4 cups heavy cream to a boil.  Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate.  Whisk until smooth and allow to cool to luke warm.  Pour the chocolate over the tart and smooth with a spatula.  Refrigerate until the chocolate sets (about 1 hour), or until ready to serve.