Charlie Brown Goes to France

If Charlie Brown lived in France, would his name be pronounced "Charl" like Charl Schwartzel, winner of the 2011 Master's Golf Tournament?  Would Lucy pull away a soccer ball instead of a pigskin? Would he wear a yellow cycling jersey with a crooker black line through the center? Would he yell "Bon Chagrin!" instead of "Good Grief!"?

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.

I do not have a picture of the finished product because after 4 days it looks a bit meltery. This is a word it sounds like my niece, Emily, would think up. Imaginary, but accurate.