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Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

sebrani alhachmi

Peanut butter banana cream pie is a deliciously indulgent dessert, and a peanut butter lover’s dream. You’re using Nutter Butter cookies for the crumb crust, and piling on layers of rich chocolate ganache, sweet banana slices, creamy peanut butter mousse, and fluffy whipped cream. You can make this dessert ahead of time, and add the toppings close to or just before serving.

peanut butter banana cream pie with whipped cream, chocolate curls, and Nutter Butter cookie on top.

There’s no flavor duo quite like peanut butter + chocolate. But peanut butter + banana… deserving of an honorable mention, at least! Now what about peanut butter + chocolate + banana? One bite of this flavor trio and you’ll wonder why you ever stopped at 2 flavors to begin with! 😉

So Many Layers to Love

  • Nutter Butter Crust: Crispy, peanutty (that’s a word, right?), and buttery, this cookie crumb crust is the perfect base for a peanut butter banana cream pie.
  • Chocolate Ganache: A rich and soft-set chocolate layer, made from just 2 ingredients.
  • Banana Slices: Layered in and on the pie, just like we do for banana cream pie.
  • Peanut Butter Cream Filling: With its mousse-like texture, this peanut butter pie filling is a reader—and personal—favorite. Can’t wait for you to try it in this pie.
  • Whipped Cream & Chocolate Curls: The finishing touches for a pie that looks as good as it tastes!
slice of peanut butter banana cream pie being removed from pie dish.

Start With a 2-Ingredient Nutter Butter Cookie Crust

A Nutter Butter is an American peanut butter-flavored sandwich cookie and truly one of the best cookies you can use for a crumb crust. If you can’t find Nutter Butters, you can make a regular graham cracker crust, Oreo crust, or peanut butter Oreo crust, like in this peanut butter pie. (By the way, if you love Nutter Butter cookies, try my homemade peanut butter cookie sandwiches!)

Use a food processor to grind 20 Nutter Butter cookies into crumbs, then stir in 4 Tablespoons of melted butter. My team and I tested different ratios of cookie crumbs to butter, and this was by far the best to provide a thick, crisp crust. Press the mixture into a pie dish and bake for 15 minutes. Now you can turn off the oven—that’s all the baking this pie gets!

So much easier than a regular pie crust.

Nutter Butter sandwich cookies and butter on marble counter.
cookie crumbs in glass bowl and shown again pressed into pie dish.

2-Ingredient Chocolate Ganache

You also only need 2 ingredients for the chocolate ganache layer:

  1. Pure Chocolate: Make sure you use real, quality chocolate. I typically use the 4-ounce baking bars found in the grocery store baking aisle, by Ghirardelli or Baker’s. You can use quality chocolate chips instead, but the ganache won’t be as smooth, as chocolate chips have stabilizers in them.
  2. Heavy Cream: This may be called by another name where you are, like heavy whipping cream or double cream. Just make sure it has a minimum of 36% fat content, otherwise the ganache won’t set up quite as well.

Heat the cream on the stovetop, pour over finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl, let sit for a few minutes, and then slowly stir until the chocolate has all melted. The ganache will be very thin at first, but since chocolate is solid at room temperature, the ganache will thicken as it cools.

Spread it into your baked crust:

chocolate ganache in bowl and shown again being spread on Nutter Butter pie crust.

Make Your Peanut Butter Cream Filling

Because banana cream pie is made with a homemade vanilla pudding, I first tried making a peanut butter version. It turned out… very unappetizing, to say the least. There’s apparently a reason you don’t see many recipes for peanut butter pudding pies. I can’t figure one out!

So let’s go with what we know is the most delicious peanut butter pie filling—it’s smooth and creamy, with the right balance of peanut butter flavor that works so well with bananas and chocolate.

You need these 5 ingredients:

  1. Heavy Cream: We’ll whip this by itself first, and fold it in last. How convenient you also need this ingredient for the ganache AND the whipped cream on top.
  2. Cream Cheese: This gives the pie its structure, but we’re not using too much here, so the pie won’t taste like peanut butter flavored cheesecake. Make sure to use block-style full-fat cream cheese, like we use in pecan pie cheesecake, not the spreadable kind in the tub.
  3. Peanut Butter: To ensure a soft and smooth filling, use the conventional, processed kind of peanut butter, not natural style.
  4. Confectioners’ Sugar: Adds just the right amount of sweetness.
  5. Vanilla Extract: Enhances the overall flavor.

By whipping the cream and then folding it into the rest of the filling mixture, it makes for an almost mousse-like texture. Try to hold back on just eating this with a spoon… it’s not easy!

Pictured below, left: Whipped heavy cream. Pictured below, right: Other filling ingredients.

whipped cream in glass bowl and peanut butter cream cheese mixture in separate bowl.

And here’s both bowls combined:

peanut butter mixture in glass bowl with red spatula.

Assembling This Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

You pretty much have everything prepared by now. Layer banana slices on top of your chocolate ganache, and then spread the peanut butter filling right on top. I find a small offset spatula makes spreading the thick filling easy.

bananas layered on chocolate ganache and pictured again topped with peanut butter filling.

Now the pie needs to take a nap in the refrigerator to set up, at least 5-6 hours or overnight. Like coconut cream pie and blueberry cream pie, this is a wonderful dessert to make ahead.

Before serving, top with whipped cream, more bananas, and any garnishes you want, like Nutter Butter cookies or chocolate curls. I use the same offset spatula for the whipped cream, but you could certainly pipe it on top instead. The whipped cream uses some of the same ingredients you already need for the other layers of the pie.

spreading whipped cream on peanut butter pie with peanut butter cookie crust.
whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and Nutter Butter cookie on top of banana slices and peanut butter pie.
slice of pie on plate with layers of chocolate ganache, bananas, peanut butter, and whipped cream with chocolate curls.

Let me quickly tell you about these chocolate curls…

How to Make Easy Chocolate Curls

I kid you not, I’ve been trying figure out the best way to make picture-perfect chocolate curls for years. I’ve tried all kinds of complicated YouTube methods, and none of them really worked. The best I could manage were chocolate shavings. Tasty, sure… but not curly!

Then recently, team member Trina sent a photo of the French silk pie she made for a recent round of recipe testing, and my very first thought was: How did you make those perfect chocolate curls?

Are you ready for the trick to gorgeous chocolate spirals? Do you have a pencil and paper handy to write it all down? OK, here’s what you need:

  1. Hershey’s milk chocolate bar
  2. Vegetable peeler

…That’s it. LOL.

Simply take a standard-size classic Hershey bar and run your peeler down the side of it. These little things are fragile, so apply them to your desserts carefully! Enjoy.

slice of peanut butter and banana cream pie with forkful taken out on white plate.

Print

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Description

This peanut butter banana cream pie starts with a Nutter Butter cookie crumb crust, then layers of rich chocolate ganache, sweet banana slices, creamy peanut butter mousse, and fluffy whipped cream. You can make this dessert ahead of time, and add the toppings before serving.

Nutter Butter Crust

Chocolate Ganache Layer

Bananas & Peanut Butter Filling

Whipped Cream

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). 
  2. Make the crust: In a food processor or blender, pulse the whole cookies (cookie AND filling) into a fine crumb. Stir the cookie crumbs and melted butter together, and then pour the mixture into an ungreased 9-inch pie dish. With medium pressure using your hand, pat the crumbs down into the bottom and up the sides to make a compact crust. Do not pack down with heavy force because that makes the crust too hard. Simply pat down until the mixture is no longer crumby/crumbly. Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool as you prepare the rest. 
  3. Make the chocolate ganache: Place finely chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to gently simmer. (Do not let it come to a rapid boil—that’s too hot!) Pour over chocolate, then let it sit for 2–3 minutes to gently soften the chocolate. With a metal spoon or small rubber spatula, very slowly stir until chocolate has completely melted and mixture is smooth. The finer you chopped the chocolate, the quicker it will melt with the cream. If it’s not melting, do not microwave it. If needed, see Troubleshooting Chocolate Ganache. Once ganache mixture is smooth, set it aside while you make the peanut butter filling.
  4. Make the filling: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 3–5 minutes. Spoon the whipped cream into a bowl and set aside. Using the same mixing bowl (no need to rinse clean!), beat the cream cheese, peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract together on medium-high speed until combined. Mixture will be thick. Fold in the whipped cream until smooth. Be gentle, you don’t want to deflate that whipped cream.
  5. Assemble the pie: Spread chocolate ganache over the cooled crust. Slice 2 bananas and place the slices in a single layer over the ganache. (The other bananas are for topping the pie.) Spread peanut butter filling evenly on top—the banana slices may move around a little bit, as the filling is heavy, but take your time and spread it on as well as you can.
  6. Cover the pie and chill in the refrigerator for 5–6 hours and up to 1 day.
  7. Make the whipped cream: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 4–5 minutes.
  8. Slice 2 remaining bananas and arrange on top of chilled pie. Top with whipped cream. See make ahead instructions below if you want to decorate with whipped cream in advance. If making chocolate curls, run a vegetable peeler down the long side of a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar. Carefully place on top of whipped cream, if desired. Garnish with Nutter Butter cookie, if desired.
  9. Slice and serve cold. Store leftover pie covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Notes

  1. Make Ahead Instructions: This peanut butter banana cream pie can be made up to 1 day in advance, up through step 6. Store covered in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Before serving, continue with step 7. You can add whipped cream on top of the pie a few hours before serving and refrigerate until ready to serve, but do not decorate with bananas on top that far in advance because they will begin to leak moisture and brown.
  2. Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor for crust | Pie Dish | Electric Mixer (Stand Mixer or Handheld) | Small Offset Spatula | Vegetable Peeler for chocolate curls
  3. Chocolate for Ganache: Real, quality chocolate is ideal for ganache to set properly. I use the 4-ounce baking bars found in the grocery store baking aisle, such as Ghirardelli or Baker’s brands. If you can’t find those, you can use high-quality semi-sweet chocolate chips instead. See How to Make Chocolate Ganache for more tips.
  4. Peanut Butter: Creamy peanut butter is ideal for this recipe. I recommend using processed peanut butter, such as Jif or Skippy, rather than natural peanut butter.
  5. Alternate Crust Options: If you can’t find Nutter Butter cookies, you can make a graham cracker crust or Oreo crust—with peanut butter-filled Oreos if you can find them!

Keywords: peanut butter banana cream pie

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