Amazing Peanut Butter Pie

INGREDIENTS

For the Crust:

• 24 Oreos sandwich cookies
• ¼ cup unsalted butter melted (56g)

For the Filling:

• 1 (8 ounce/226g) block cream cheese room temperature
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter (250g)
• ¾ cup powdered sugar (90g)
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream (240ml)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

For the Crust:

1. Place the cookies in a food processor, and process the cookies until finely ground, about 30 seconds. Transfer the crumbs to a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter until well combined. (You can also crush the cookies in a large ziptop bag with a rolling pin until finely ground.)
2. Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Freeze for 30 minutes.

For the Filling:

1. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitting with the whisk attachment, combine cream cheese and peanut butter. Beat on medium speed until smooth and well combined. Scrape down the bowl and add the powdered sugar. Beat just until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the cream and vanilla until soft peaks form, then fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. Spoon the filling into the pie crust and smooth into an even layer. Freeze for at least 3 hours or refrigerate for at least 6 hours before slicing.

NOTES

• Chill the pie crust. Make the crust first so it can chill for 30 minutes in the freezer while you prepare the filling. Alternatively, set the crust in the refrigerator for an hour.
• Cookie-crushing alternative. You can also crush the cookies in a large ziptop bag with a rolling pin until finely ground.
• Chill the pie until set. To prevent a runny filling, chill the pie for 3 hours in the freezer or 6 hours in the fridge. The pie can also be made up to a day in advance and chilled right up until serving as well.
• Optional: Switch up the crust. Replace the Oreos with 2 cups of regular or chocolate graham cracker crumbs or chocolate wafer cookies. Increase the butter to ½ cup and add an optional 2 tablespoons of brown sugar for more sweetness. You could use a pre-made crust from the baking aisle at your local grocery store OR buy the pre-crushed boxes of graham cracker or Oreo crumbs. Also found in the baking aisle.
• Optional: Use frozen whipped topping. For an even easier filling, skip making homemade whipped cream and use 1 (8-ounce) tub of frozen whipped topping (like Cool Whip), thawed. Just stir it into the filling as directed with the whipped cream.