All important questions, but one thing I know for sure is that when you mix Charlie Brown pie crust with French Silk Pie, you get all kinds of fluffy chocolately loveliness with a peanut buttery graham cracker crunch. This is what I brought to work last week for my birthday treats not out of culinary genius, but out of "I started after 8pm and had to make do with the ingredients I had on hand." Since I did have hordes of fans (2) asking for the recipe and was going to type it out anyway and don't have much else to do besides making 3-letter words plural to get 4-letter words on Kindle's "Every Word", here is my recipe mashup!
Charlie Brown Goes to France
Charlie Brown Pie Crust
2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. peanut butter
3 T. butter
Melt peanut butter and butter; mix in sugar and crackers. Press into a 9x13 pan.French Silk Pie Filing
1 1/2 c. butter or margarine
2 1/2 c. sugar
4 sq. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
3 tsp. vanilla
6 eggs
1 carton whipped cream
Mini chocolate chips or shaved chocolate
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add melted chocolate and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating 5 minutes after each addition (this is very important). Pour into crust, refrigerate a little while, then top with whipped cream and garnish with chocolate chips or shaved chocolate. Refrigerate.
Tips:
- Using a hand mixer for this recipe is like using a salad fork to pitch out a free-stall barn. Not recommended. I used my Cuisinart 7qt stand mixer
although a smaller bowl should work fine.
- I used the food processor attachment
for my Cuisinart to make the graham cracker crumbs, but a Pampered Chef chopper or even a Ziplock bag and a rolling pin would do the trick.
- You can halve the filling and put it in a regular baked pie shell or a purchased graham cracker crust.
- For those of you who lack math or planning skills, 5 minutes per egg means your mixer will be running for about 30 minutes. So don't start 15 minutes before The Office starts. Not that I did.
- If the French Silk Pie is too time-consuming, you can make the original Charlie Brown Pie by mixing 1 large box instant chocolate pudding with 2 1/4 c. milk, spreading it over the crust and topping with a carton of Cool Whip. Come to think of it, that sounds a lot easier.
