Peanut Butter Cream Pie Recipe
Sweety Pies Rich, Moist & Chunky PB Pie Filling in a Flaky Pie Crust
Sweety Pies by Patty Pinner: Luscious and sinfully rich, Ava Joy's Peanut Butter Cream Pie, cradled in a Flaky Pie Crust and topped with whipped cream, is simply divine!
Part three in a series of three articles.
"Sweety Pies: An Uncommon Collection Of Womanish Observations, With Pie" by Patty Pinner is a selection of 70 wonderful homemade pies, gathered over the years from the women that inspired her soul. Along with her treasured recipes, this book is a collection of Patty's personal stories to share with her readers.
The following story is about a woman that made such an impression on Patty's young life, that each time she makes this rich Peanut Butter Cream Pie, she is reminded of Ava Joy. Dish up a slice of pie, pour yourself a cup of tea and get cozy.
Don't forget to check out the "Sweety Pies" cookbook review.
Ava Joy's Peanut Butter Cream Pie
"Ava Joy Malone may not have been a Hollywood movie star, but in our small town she stopped traffic. She was shapely, her cat-shaped eyes were dark and piercing, and her short, jet-black hair was sleek and always in place. Ava Joy had flawless, nut-brown skin—the kind that reveals specks of gold and copper when the sun shines on it.
It wasn’t easy being beautiful. The men—even good men like Deacon Swank, who confessed in church (two Sundays in a row!) that he’d given into temptation when he bumped into Ava Joy at Meat City and asked her if she wanted a ride home, knowing full well congeniality wasn’t on his mind—often avoided her. That’s because an encounter with Ava left an impression on their faces that they couldn’t hide; they didn’t feel like putting up with the grief their wives and girlfriends were going to give them when they got home. And the women, they had a love-hate relationship with Ava. They’d grin in her face and no sooner did she turn her back than they’d start picking her apart: “That dress is tolerable but them Salvation Army–lookin’ shoes have got to go.”
I came to know Ava Joy quite well, despite our age difference. When I turned ten, my mother paid Ava to show me how to make beaded jewelry. My crowning moments inside Miss Ava’s house didn’t come while we were sorting through the gorgeous beads that she kept in a huge glass jar. Rather, they were on those occasions when I arrived for my lessons early and found her in her kitchen, all decked out in earrings and a dress, nylons and high heels, red lipstick and perfume. The people in the neighborhood could say what they wanted to say about Miss Ava Joy Malone, but to me, when she was sauntering around in her kitchen, all made-up like a Hollywood movie star, that’s when she was in her glory. Her femininity and softness mesmerized me.
My mother had strict rules for me, but when it came to lessons in womanhood, she was exceptionally broadminded. I’m glad she understood that being in the company of a woman like Miss Ava Joy Malone was a necessary aspect of my education. I’m glad Mama understood that when a young girl is in the kitchen with a womanly woman like Miss Ava Joy, the young girl envisions herself in all of her womanish possibilities, inside of a kitchen and out.
All these years later, whenever I make this pie, I see Miss Ava moving around in her kitchen—the way she slinked around in those high, high heels and the way she would close her refrigerator door with a tap of her hip. I remember a special moment when she asked me to stir her pots while she went to get her purse to pay the paper boy. When she came back to the kitchen, for a moment she looked at me with those dark, cat eyes and then she said, 'You look like you’re gonna grow up and be a good little cook.'"
Ava Joy’s Peanut Butter Cream Pie by "Sweety Pies"
- "One 9-inch single Flaky Pie Crust (see Patty's recipe here), rolled out, fitted into a pie plate, and edge trimmed and scalloped (see directions)
- 1 cup chunky peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted
- butter, melted
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup dark corn syrup
- 2/3 cup sugar
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare the pie crust and set aside.
- In a medium-size bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the peanut butter, vanilla, salt, and melted butter until well blended.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs, corn syrup, and sugar together with the mixer, then fold in the peanut butter mixture. When thoroughly combined, pour the filling into the pie crust.
- To fashion an attractive scalloped edge around the pie, trim the dough even with the edge of the pie plate. Form a “V” with your right thumb and index finger about
- 1 inch apart. Place the “V” on the outside rim of the pie crust. Place your left index finger on the inside rim of the crust, inside the “V.” Gently pinch your thumb and right forefinger, then press down your left fore-finger inside the “V” on top of the mound of dough. Don’t push all the way through the dough. Continue this pinch–press down, pattern around the rim of the pie.
- Place the pie in the oven and bake until the crust is golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack; it tastes good served still warm or chilled. Garnish with whipped cream.
- Makes one 9-inch pie.
Recipe and excerpt is reprinted with permission in writing from the publisher.
"Sweety Pies: An Uncommon Collection Of Womanish Observations, With Pie"
Author: Patty Pinner
Publisher: The Taunton Press (September 18, 2007)
Photographer: Alexandra Grablewski
Hardcover: 176 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1561588480
$23.00 U.S. $29.95 Canada
