Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Covered Pretzel Crust

I was in the grocery store last week and planned to pick up a bag of pretzels to snack on. All they had were large bags, more than I needed for a snack for sure, so I thought I might use the rest in a pie crust. And while I'm standing there, deciding, my eyes fell on a bag of chocolate covered pretzels. I'm totally a sweet and salty fan and chocolate covered pretzels are some of my favorite treats but I normally try to avoid them. The reason my eyes lingered is because my brain was thinking along the lines of pie crust and I wondered what would happen if I made a chocolate covered pretzel pie crust. Very, very good things would happen, actually.

My only concern was that the chocolate might melt off and make the dough wet while I was mixing it. But I had no problems making the crust and definitely got the sweet, salty and chocolate combo I was going for. The next question was what kind of filling to make but that's not really a tough one to answer. When my brain hears chocolate it kind of automatically moves on to peanut butter.

No need to make a baked filling when peanut butter mousse is pretty much perfect as is so I just blind baked the pie shell and let it cool while I mixed up the filling and tried not to shove it all in my mouth. I also had to give up a spoonful to the dog if I wanted to be able to leave the kitchen because she parks herself right at the entrance and demands a peanut butter toll be paid.

This pie definitely fulfilled all my sweet and salty cravings and was totally worthy of face-planting into. Don't worry, I shared it. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Covered Pretzel Crust

by Hungry Couple

Prep Time: 25 Minutes

Cook Time: 40 Minutes

6079665

Ingredients (8 Servings)

Crust:

• 1 Cup chocolate covered pretzels
• 1 Cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 Stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1" pieces
• 1/4 Cup ice water

Filling:

• 8 oz. Cream cheese
• 1 Cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 Cup sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
• 4 oz. Whipped cream or prepared whipped topping
• 1/4 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

To make the crust, add the pretzels to a food processor and pulse until the pretzels are crushed. Add the flour, salt, sugar and butter and pulse a few times until the mixture resembles course crumbs. With the machine running, slowly pour the ice water through the feed and mixing running until the mixture forms a dough ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and roll the chilled dough out to a 10" circle. Place the dough into an 8" pie tin, prick the bottom a few times with a fork and bake for approximately 30 - 40 minutes or until the dough is a very light golden brown. Allow to cool thoroughly.

Make the filling by creaming together the cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, salt and whipped cream or whipped topping until smooth. Pour into the cooled pie crust.

Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave for about 60 seconds and swirl through the peanut butter mousse. Refrigerate for about an hour to firm up the filling and make the pie easier to slice. Garnish the top of the pie with a few extra crushed pretzels, if desired.

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