Via healthyindulgences.netHere’s a sweet treat for you peanut butter lovers out there! If you are allergic to everyone’s favorite legumes, try substituting in smooth almond butter for a nutty flavor.
Try sprinkling chopped peanuts on top (instead of the sliced almonds pictured here). I had to make due with what I had on hand. 😉
Here are some important recipe notes for you before you make this pie.
I created this pie for a contest that featured xylitol, so I had to convert the sweetener to erythritol and stevia. I am generally pretty good at doing this at a glance, but I cannot be sure that you can make this pie without slightly tweaking the stevia and erythritol amounts. Fortunately, you will easily be able to adjust the sweetness to your liking by tasting as you go along. Every other aspect of this recipe works beautifully. Low carb sweeteners like stevia and erythritol don’t tend to affect the texture of desserts (unless you are working with chocolate or another substance without much water – see recipe notes) since they don’t provide bulk, unlike sugar. You can easily ascertain the sweetness level of no bake desserts, but baked desserts tend to come out a little less sweet after heating, so keep this in mind if you taste a raw dough or crust.
Healthy Peanut Butter Cup Pie
Serves 10-12
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup organic heavy cream
7 tablespoons erythritol, powdered
1/8 teaspoon NuNaturals white stevia pure extract
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 Chocolate Cookie Crust (recipe follows)
1 recipe Chocolate Peanut Butter Topping (recipe follows)
1/2 cup organic heavy cream
2 tablespoons erythritol, powdered
Pinch of NuNaturals white stevia pure extract
Preparation:
Measure out granular erythriol, then powder it in a coffee grinder or blender. Soften cream cheese and peanut butter in microwave on HIGH for 20 seconds. Add vanilla extract. Beat in erythritol on low, then beat mixture a minute or two until thoroughly combined. Smooth mixture around bowl with a spatula if it looks crumbly. In a separate bowl, combine heavy cream with the rest of the erythritol. Beat on low until you see soft peaks, then raise the speed on your mixer, and beat until you see stiff peaks. Do not overbeat. Using a spatula, take a generous dollop of whipped cream and stir it into peanut butter mixture to lighten it up and smooth it out. Gently fold in the rest of the whipped cream until most of the streaks are gone. Smooth mixture into crust and chill for several hours, preferably overnight. Top with chocolate peanut butter topping. Beat 1/2 cup heavy cream with 2 tablespoons erythritol and a pinch of stevia until stiff. Spoon or pipe cream on to pie around the edges. Refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight. Drizzle the optional Chocolate Peanut Butter topping on the pie before serving, and wait 5-10 minutes for it to set.
Chocolate Cookie Crust
Serves 10-12
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ounce good quality unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 scant tablespoons beaten egg
4 tablespoons erythritol, powdered
1/8 + 1/16 teaspoon NuNaturals white stevia pure extract
1 cup blanched almond flour, packed
1/8 plus 1/16 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Powder erythritol in a coffee grinder or blender. Melt chocolate and butter together in a microwave safe mixing bowl for 35 seconds. Stir well. Heat for another 10 seconds, and stir chocolate and butter until smooth. In another bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Whisk egg and erythritol into chocolate mixture. Stir in dry ingredients until a ball of dough forms. Refrigerate the dough for a few minutes before pressing it into a pan if it is sticky and hard to work with. Grease a pie tin, and line the bottom with a circle of greased parchment paper. Press dough into bottom and up sides of tin. Poke holes all over crust with the tines of a fork. Bake for 17 minutes. Freeze crust for 20 minutes, or until no longer warm to the touch.
The topping is optional, and can be omitted or cut in half if you are saving carbohydrates. It’s quite rich! It adds a decorative touch criss-crossed over the top with a piping bag. You can just use a plastic bag with the corner cut if you don’t have a piping bag.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Topping
Ingredients:
1 1/2 ounces good quality unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon butter
3 1/2 tablespoons xylitol, powdered
Preparation:
Melt chocolate, peanut butter, and butter for 30 seconds. Stir well. Melt mixture in 10 second intervals, until it can be stirred smooth. Stir in xylitol with a spatula, smoothing out the mixture until uniform. Spoon into a zip top bag with straight corners. Make a tiny snip in the corner, and pipe chocolate mixture in a zig zag over the top, rotating and repeating three times. You can try erythritol here, but it will taste a bit grainy and will not create a smooth texture, mixed in with the chocolate.
~9g net carbs, 533 calories per 1/12th of a pie (with the add chocolate topping)
~7g net carbs, 477 calories per 1/12 of a pie (without the added chocolate topping)