Cheap Eats: Peanut Butter Pie

Here at The Billfold, we love cheap and easy recipes. Here’s a cheap and easy recipe for dessert by reader Cindy Whitt.

Eating on the cheap can be easy when you’re only feeding yourself, but what do you do when you’re invited to a BBQ or potluck? You bring a peanut butter pie. For less than $10, you can serve 8–10 this easy, creamy, peanut buttery dessert. I have never heard one complaint about this pie, even from people who do not particularly like peanut butter. Plus, it’s so easy even a novice cook can whip it up.

To save money, you can buy the generic/store brand versions of everything except the peanut butter. Splurge on a fancy, obscurely-named confection or go with my favorite, Peter Pan. You’ll only use about half the container, so you’ll have enough left for a couple of PB&J sandwiches later.

Ingredients
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 8 oz. package cream cheese
• 8 oz. tub of whipped topping
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
• Chocolate pie crust (found on baking aisle, not the frozen kind)
• Package of peanut butter cups, chopped, and chocolate syrup for decoration (optional)

Directions
With a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter, and vanilla until combined. Add powdered sugar 1/2 a cup at a time. Blend until smooth. Fold in whipped topping by hand until smooth and creamy.

Open pie crust package, saving the clear top to use as your cover. Pour pie mixture into crust, smooth out the top. Sprinkle with chopped peanut butter cups and drizzle chocolate syrup across the top. (To do this, squirt some syrup in a small glass, dip a fork into it and use it to drizzle across the top of the pie. Squirting from the container may result in blobs.)

Top it with that plastic cover you saved, and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving. Cut into small slices — it’s rich enough that a sliver will do. Your friends will be impressed, and you can say that you did it without the help of Mrs. Smith.

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