In the Key of K

This is an indulgent dessert that should be enjoyed only on holidays and birthdays. When I started making this pie 30+ years ago (in the 90s) it was called Gene Autry’s Peanut Butter Pie. Gene Autry, known as the Singing Cowboy, was a famous actor and singer whose popularity began to wane after the 1950s or 60s. He is the soundtrack for christmas music at our house. I have made substantial changes to make it vegan but it is just as good as the original.

When making it not-vegan the best results were obtained by whipping your own cream to stiff peaks and using Hershey’s hot fudge sauce. Note to the world: don’t try whipping coconut cream, it doesn’t really do anything. And the vegan heavy cream also does NOT whip like dairy cream. Buy the vegan whipped cream in a tub–it’s the easiest and doesn’t impart the coconut flavor like coconut cream (which I like sometimes).

I’m not sure where I found the hot fudge recipe below but it has been tweaked several times over the last ten years or more so it really isn’t the original recipe anymore anyway.

Peanut Butter Pie

1 cup homemade or natural peanut butter

1 (8oz) package of vegan cream cheese, softened

1 cup of sugar

2 tbsp melted vegan butter

1 tub of vegan whipped cream OR 1 cup of coconut fat—buy unsweetened canned coconut and refrigerate—then scoop off the fat –it may take two cans to get a whole cup—don’t use the water–it will have a coconut taste with this option.

1 tsp vanilla

1 graham cracker pie crust

Hot fudge sauce*

Cream together peanut butter, cream cheese, sugar, and butter. Then add the whipped cream and vanilla. Mix well. Pour into pie crust and chill until well set (maybe a couple of hours).  Top with hot fudge then chill again.  Eat too much and get a tummy-ache.

*Hot Fudge Sauce

1/3 cup of coconut oil

1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa

1/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of maple syrup OR a scant half cup of agave syrup

1/3 cup of unsweetened plant milk

Pinch of salt

1 cup of dairy free chocolate chips

A splash of vanilla extract

Put everything except the chocolate chips and vanilla in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for three to five minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chips and vanilla. Store in the fridge in a plastic storage container—in my experience, it has kept up to an entire year in the refrigerator. Warm it up in the microwave when you you’re ready to use it.