Gale Grand has a decadent recipe for Peanut Butter Pie. I made 1.5x the original recipe for both the filling and the crust, but added my own twist with a thin layer of ganache—and not just any ganache either, but a dark chocolate espresso ganache. The flavor was spectacular! The nutty crust and intense chocolate-espresso were the perfect complements to the creamy peanut-butter filling.

For an interesting variation, try Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake or Chocolate Espresso Peanut Butter Bars, the latter with a cream-free peanut butter spread similar to Alton Brown’s peanut butter pie filling.

The Crust

The crust tastes similar to nutter butter, but with a crunchier crumbly texture and better flavor. Perfect. Chocolate lovers: resist the urge to replace the graham crackers with a chocolate crumb. The chocolate will come later and in style.

1. I had some leftover crumb mixture, but I would not recommend making the quantity described in the original recipe; it might not be enough to cover those extra large pie pans in my cabinets.
2. Use roasted spanish peanuts and carefully pulse in the blender until coarsely chopped. One 12 oz can of peanuts will be plenty and provide leftovers for snacking.
3. Process about 1.5 packets of graham crackers to obtain the appropriate volume of crumb.
4. Toss the peanuts in the butter first and then add the crumbs.
5. Do not toast the crust for 10 minutes or you will burn the pie. Check after five or six minutes for doneness.

The Ganache

A ganache looks deceptively simple. Chocolate and cream—what can go wrong? Oh my. If you need to ask, you haven’t tried playing with chocolate. My first attempt at ganache seized up like melted chocolate exposed to water; a flood of oily liquid separated from the chocolate and the mixture became very lumpy. I managed to coax it back into a useable form thankfully. Still, what a nightmare! I thought to myself the second time, “Absolutely no stray drops of water will dare come near this pot!” But it happened again. I was mystified. No water came into contact with my chocolate, and I wasn’t even sure ganache could seize. Everything I had read online indicated ganache was easy. What was wrong? Only later I had my moment of eureka: I had not poured the cream into the chocolate as recommended; instead, I shoved the chocolate into the cream and left the pot on the double-boiler. Temperature, temperature, temperature! I’m almost certain this was the problem. My original logic to keep the chocolate warm for the sake of increased viscosity was fundamentally flawed. Of course, it is possible the granulated instant espresso had an effect on the structure of the chocolate as well, but I suspect not. Notes for the future:

1. Use these reference materials (1 | 2) to set up the right ratio of ingredients for your ganache.
2. I used almost all of a 0.4-0.5 lb bar of 70% cocoa venezuelan chocolate, as well heavy whipping cream and 2-3 tsps of Medaglia D'oro Instant Espresso from Whole Foods.
3. Chop the chocolate finely, with no pieces larger than 0.25 inches.
4. Important! Read this description of the physical process of making ganache and the optimal temperature for a smooth texture.

The final pie turned out marvelous, despite my first disastrous encounter with ganache. We live and learn!

The Filling

This portion of the task was by far the easiest; the filling firmed up nicely in the freezer and was still very creamy.

1. Because the filling is naturally soft, I recommend keeping the pie in the freezer and moving individual slices to the fridge 1-2 hrs before consumption.
2. To whip the whipping cream, just remember to keep your instruments (metal bowl, mixing attachment) and ingredients as cold as possible until you're ready to rock.
3. Make life easier on yourself; mix the cream cheese and the powdered sugar together first, then add the peanut butter and milk.
4. Unsalted, natural peanut butter works just great for this recipe. No additional sugar necessary.
5. Making 1.5x the recipe was a bit excessive. There was a lot of leftovers.