Frozen Apple and Peanut Butter Cloud Pie

This pie just won the Pie-Making Contest at our church. I have a cookbook with 100 Apple Pie recipes in it. Apple Pie is Tim's absolute favorite dessert, so this book is a very important one in our house. I was originally looking for a good basic apple pie to make, so as not to stand-out, but simply to make sure we had enough pies in the contest. However, I came across this recipe, and I could not pass it up. Apples and Peanut butter are my favorite afternoon snack, and I have this snack at least a few times a week. So, when I saw this combination in pie form, I had to try it! It was every bit as amazing as I had expected. Not as healthy as my normal apple-peanut butter snack, so unfortunately I cannot eat it several times a week, but this is one I will keep around to impress people with now and then :-)

Recipe from Apple Pie Perfect

Graham Cracker Crust:

10 whole graham crackers
1/4 C firmly pack brown sugar
1/4 t ground cinnamon
Big pinch of salt
5 T unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly butter a 9-inch pie pan.
Break up crackers coarsely and process them in a food processor, along with the brown sugar, until fine. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add the cinnamon and salt. Add the melted butter and incorporate. Mix until the crumbs are evenly moistened.
Spread the crumbs evenly and loosely in a pie pan. Press the mixture into the bottom and then up the sides.

















You don't have to get the crust all the way up the sides, but try for at least half-way.



Bake on the center rack of the oven for 8-10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack before filling.

Apple Layer:

2 T unsalted butter
3 Firm-Textured apples (such as golden delicious or northern spy) Peeled, cored, and sliced.
1/4 C granulated sugar
1 t lemon juice
2 T confectioner's sugar

Peanut Butter Cloud Layer:

1 C Heavy Cream
one 8-OZ Package of cream cheese, softened
1 C Smooth peanut butter
3/4 Granulated sugar
1/2 C firmly packed light brown sugar
2 t vanilla extract
2 Lrg Egg whites


To prepare the apple layer, melt the butter in a large pan. Stir in the apples and granulated sugar and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until almost tender, about 5 minutes.





































Stir in the lemon juice and confectioner's sugar and cook, stirring for one minute longer. Remove from heat and scrape the apples into a bowl or plate and let cool thoroughly.


















When the apples have cooled, spoon them into the crust.





















If there is a good amount of juice, use a slotted spoon and reserve the juice. Put pie in the freezer. If you have saved juice, wait until the pie has been freezing for 20 minutes, then spoon the juice over the pie.

To make the peanut butter cloud layer, use an electric mixer to whip the heavy cream until it holds semi-firm peaks. Cover and refrigerate.








'


























Using the mixer, beat cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth. Gradually add in the sugars, then the vanilla. The mixture will be lumpy, like cookie dough.




















Add the whipped cream to the peanut butter mixture, slowly blending them together until smooth.


















Now, I want to stop here and point something out. At this stage we have a peanut butter whipped cream. If you are any where near as much of a peanut butter fanatic as I am, you will have a very difficult time not stopping, getting a spoon, and finishing off this concoction right here and now. Don't do it. Take a spoonful and taste it. It is glorious. It will taste amazing on top of that frozen apple pie, so don't sell it short by ending it's life here.

Clean and dry your beaters, and bowl if you are using a stand mixer. Make sure you get them completely clean because we will be whipping egg whites next, and if there is any fat left on the bowl the egg whites will not whip correctly. Beat the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks.




















A stiff peak is when the egg whites will stand up in a peak without folding over at all. If the tip of the peak dips over, it is a soft peak, and you are not quite there yet.

Fold the whites into the peanut butter mixture with a rubber spatula until evenly blended. Spread the mixture over the apple layer and smooth with a spoon.




















Freeze the pie for about 15 minutes, cover it loosely with aluminum foil and freeze for at least 5 hours more. Remove the pie from the freezer 15 minutes before slicing it.

Seriously, this pie is amazing, and really fun to make. That is all I can say, I hope you will make it.