Rosie's Peanut Butter Pie
Submitted by lightyear
Old-school peanut butter pie with vanilla custard filling and a peanut butter crumble layered both under and on top of the whipped cream. A diner-classic Amish-style pie that’s comfort food in slice form.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
15 minREADY
45 minRosie’s peanut butter pie is the Amish-country and Pennsylvania Dutch version, completely different from the no-bake cream cheese kind you usually see. The custard filling is a stovetop vanilla pudding, thick with cornstarch and eggs, that sits between two layers of peanut butter crumble.
That crumble is what makes this special. Half a cup of peanut butter cut into a cup of powdered sugar with a pastry cutter creates fine, sandy crumbs with concentrated peanut flavor. Half goes on the bottom of the baked crust, and half gets sprinkled over the whipped cream on top. The custard goes in the middle.
When you slice the pie, you get a four-layer cross-section: peanut butter sand, vanilla custard, fresh whipped cream, peanut butter sand. Each forkful catches all four. The peanut butter crumbs slowly absorb moisture from the custard over time, turning slightly creamy where they meet the filling and staying crunchy on top.
Pro Tips
- Cook the custard until it bubbles, then a full 2 minutes more. Underbaked custard won’t set and will leak through the bottom crumble layer.
- Temper the eggs by stirring a cup of hot custard into the beaten eggs before returning to the pan. Skipping this step gives you scrambled eggs in the filling.
- Use creamy peanut butter, not natural-style. Natural peanut butter’s oil separation prevents proper crumb formation.
- Crimp the pie shell edges high. The custard fills generously and a low edge means overflow.
Variations
- Drizzle the top with melted chocolate for a Reese’s-style finish.
- Sprinkle with chopped salted peanuts along with the crumble for added crunch.
- Add a tablespoon of bourbon to the custard for a grown-up depth that pairs beautifully with peanut butter.
Ingredients
Directions
In a mixing bowl, cut the peanut butter into the powdered sugar until crumbly.
Set aside.
For the filling, in a medium or large saucepan, combine the sugar and cornstarch.
Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until bubbly. Cook 2 minutes more.
Remove from heat and gradually stir about 1 cup of the hot mixture into the eggs.
Return all to saucepan.
Cook until nearly bubbly, but do not boil.
Reduce the heat. Cook and stir the mixture for 2 minutes more.
Stir the butter or margarine and vanilla into the mixture.
Sprinkle the baked crust with half of the peanut butter mixture.
Mound the filling on top.
Cover; chill 1 hour.
In a mixing bowl, beat the whipping cream just until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight).
Spread whipped cream over pie. Sprinkle with remaining peanut mixture.
Chill until serving time (at least 2 hours).
Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
Makes 8 servings.
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