Sunday, April 15, 2012

Frozen Peanut Butter Cup Pie


It's in the low 70's outside right now, and the weather forecast for tomorrow tells me it's going to be 85 degrees.

So I think it's safe to say, summer is on it's way!

(So is global warming perhaps, because I don't know that I've ever seen such a warm winter in New Jersey?)

I love summer but the older I get, the more I hate being hot.

I hate being cold too - but at least you can put on sweatshirts and blankets.  There's no escaping oppressive heat.

Mr. Vittles and I have not lived in a house with good air conditioning probably since we both lived at our parents' house.  My first apartment after college (which was really more of a shed?) had one only window unit that I could barely afford to run anyway.  So my house was consistently in the upper 50s in winter and the 80s in summer.  Fun times.

Then our last apartment had central air... but little to no insulation.  So it really never got below the mid-70's at best.

In our place now, we have window units, but it's a large house and we were too cheap to buy a bunch of them - so we only had one for each floor of the house.

Sweat city.

Our new house that we're buying also does not have central air.  I think we're going to look into installing it, but we're not sure yet if that's going to be possible.

I sometimes wonder though how people lived before air conditioning.  Especially in warm climates.  I mean, even in the northeast we still get heat waves where the temperatures reach the upper 90s and lower 100s.

I guess you just get used to it?

Not me though.  Mr. Vittles always teases me that I have a very small window of comfortable temperatures. I think it's between 70 and 73, actually.  If our house is 65 degrees (which it usually is in the winter) then I'm freezing.  If it's 76 degrees in summer, I'm sweating.

Ridiculous, I know.

But there's nothing worse than having to turn on your oven when it's hot out.

So... with the prospect of summer brings the need for no-bake treats!


I saw a recipe on Confessions of A Cookbook Queen for Frozen Peanut Butter Butterfinger Pie and knew I had to save it for summer.

And... also make it immediately.

Just to, ummm, make sure it's good and all.

(Are you buying that excuse?)

In any event, I also knew that Mr. Vittles is not much of a fan of Butterfinger bars, so I figured peanut butter cups were a safer bet.  I also figured I'd throw some hot fudge in the mix for good measure.


This pie may give you cavities, but it will also make you (and your hot kitchen) very happy.  I promise.

Frozen Peanut Butter Cup Pie

  • One chocolate or Oreo Pre-made Pie Crust (6 oz.)
  • 8 oz block cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 reduced fat from Philly)
  • 3/4 C. sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 8 oz tub Cool Whip, thawed (I used a light version)
  • 7 “snack size” Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, chopped
  • 1/2 C. hot fudge topping (I used Hershey's Extra Dark)
  • Chocolate syrup, for decorative drizzling (optional)

In the bowl of a mixer, combine cream cheese, condensed milk, peanut butter, and powdered sugar.  Beat on medium speed until smooth and completely combined.

Using a rubber spatula, fold in the Cool Whip until combined.  Add chopped candy.

Pour hot fudge topping into bottom of crust (heat the fudge in microwave first if cold or too stiff).  Spread fudge evenly to cover bottom.

Pour peanut butter mixture into pie crust.  Drizzle top with chocolate syrup, if desired.  Cover and freeze until firm.

Adapted from Confessions of A Cookbook Queen

13 comments:

  1. Adore peanut butter and your pie looks irresistible!

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  2. Your pie looks amazing! I want a slice! Buzzed ya!

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  3. You really cannot miss with all these tasty ingredients! This looks so frosty and indulgent, I would even eat it in the wintertime-yum.
    Also, I do remember last year when a lot of the bloggers started breaking out their no oven food and drinks because it was so scorching. I still contend that someone forgot to insulate my oven it gets so hot in the kitchen sometimes!
    Stay cool and I do hope you get the central air installed!

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  4. love anything with peanut butter and this looks easy and amazing! thanx for the recipe! just tweeted it too!!

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  5. Saw this great recipe on Foodbuzz, could not resist checking out your blog. nice! Thanks for this terribly fattening and completely wonderful idea!

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  6. Oh yum! This looks fantastic. One year I lived in an apartment in New York with one window unit. When it got hot we closed the bedroom door where the AC was located and lived out of that one little room 24/7

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  7. This pie sounds amazing and decadent! I love anything with peanut butter! yum :)

    And I hope you get air-conditioning installed in your new place! I know I couldn't survive without it!

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  8. With my allergies we can't live without air conditioning, it isn't a matter of heat or humidity for us sadly.

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  9. I know this is probably a really dumb question.. but what do you mean by "snack size" cups? The bite size ones? Or the regular ones that come 2 ina pack, like in the grocery store check out aisle?
    This sounds perfect for the hubby's bday since he is a Reeses addict!! :)
    Thank you!!

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    Replies
    1. Not a dumb question at all Terra - in the bagged candy aisle, Reese's makes individually-wrapped peanut butter cups in a 10.5-oz bag. They are labeled 'snack size', each cup is 0.75 oz (bigger than the bite-sized ones, but I think they are smaller than the ones that come in a 2-pack?) Then again... if you use 'too many' peanut butter cups I'm sure your hubby won't mind :)

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  10. Ug, no A/C? I cannot stand sleeping in the heat. We have A/C (it's practically required here in Sacramento where it can get in the 90s-100s for the whole summer) but I'm going to be super cheap this year. Our new house is an energy suck and our bills are so high - even when we use no electricity! So...no bake for summer for me! Which is one of the many many reasons I love this pie!

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  11. I made a skinny version of this, but this version looks sinfully delicious! http://domesticatedduchess.blogspot.com/2012/03/skinny-dinner-for-two.html

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  12. OMG...you can't be serious...this looks so insanely good!!!! I'm scared to make it because I know myself and will probably eat it all in one evening! ;-)

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I love reading your comments!

If you have a question or problem you can also feel free to email me at vittlesandbits@gmail.com. Thanks for visiting :)

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