Serve this pie for holidays, special occasions or anytime you want a delicious dessert. It starts with a salty pretzel crust, hot fudge sauce, creamy peanut butter custard filling, all topped with more hot fudge sauce, crushed pretzels and chocolate curls
Pretzel Crust:
3/4 c. crushed pretzels
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 T. sugar
1 stick (1/2 c.) butter, melted
Pie Filling:
1 c. hot fudge sauce, plus more for drizzling
3/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. corn starch
1/2 c. peanut butter chips
2 T. creamy peanut butter
1 c. milk
1 c. heavy cream
3 egg yolks
2 T. butter
1 t. vanilla
Optional Toppings: crushed pretzels, more hot fudge sauce, shaved chocolate
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Crust:
Stir together the crushed pretzels, flour, and sugar in a bowl; add the melted butter; stir until combined. Press the mixture into a 9 inch pie pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool.
Pour 1 c. hot fudge sauce into the baked, cooled pie shell; spread out to cover the bottom; smooth out. Set aside.
Combine sugar, corn starch, milk, cream, peanut butter chips, and peanut butter in a medium saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to bubble. This will take several minutes. Once it bubbles, continue stirring for 2 minutes. The mixture will begin to thicken.
Quickly mix a little bit of the hot mixture into the egg yolks, beating quickly to avoid cooking the yolks with the hot liquid.
Stir the warm yolk mixture back into the remainder of the peanut butter mixture; cook for another 90 seconds. Remove from heat; stir in the butter and vanilla; continue stirring until butter is melted and mixture is smooth.
Pour peanut butter custard into the pie shell over the fudge sauce; allow mixture to cool for 30 minutes before putting it in the refrigerator to finish cooling.
Cool in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.
16 servings.
*Tips For Serving:
Wait until the peanut butter custard cools before adding the drizzles and toppings otherwise you'll end up with puddles of chocolate.
More fudge sauce can be drizzled over the top for decorating. Add a little shaved chocolate, if desired.
Add more crushed pretzels, right before serving.