Wow!. It seems as though I’ve been baking up a storm around here lately. From pies to cookies to popcorn – apparently I have a big sweet tooth these days. Anyway, I came up with this idea late last week and couldn’t get it out of my head. I just had to give it a try as soon as possible.
I know that I was thinking about making a savory pie for the next recipe in my year of pie series, but when something comes along that involves peanut butter and chocolate, it takes precedence.
Now, I’ve made a lot of recipes here on Inspired by Charm, but I can say with certainty that these Bite-Sized Peanut Butter Pies are officially in my top five. The combination of chocolate and peanut butter is probably my all-time favorite, so it’s not a surprise that I love these so much.
I was also super excited to try out this crust recipe. First, it’s made in a food processor. I’ve always wanted to try this approach ever since I saw Ina Garten do it on the Barefoot Contessa. Secondly, it involves chocolate.
I was actually surprised how wonderfully easy this dough came together. Other than paying attention to how much water (or in this case coffee) you are adding, it pretty much mixes itself. I may be convinced that a food processor is the way to go when it comes to making pie dough.
You’ll notice the dough recipe calls for iced coffee. (This is yet another tip I learned from my friend, Ina. [She’s not really my friend, I just like saying that. However, I think we would be friends if we met some day. But then again, I think everyone assumes that.]) I think she made brownies once, or maybe it was chocolate cupcakes, and used coffee instead of plain water. Apparently coffee enhances the chocolate flavor. Now anytime I’m making something with chocolate, I try to incorporate a little coffee flavor. Honestly, it really seems to help. If you’re not a fan of coffee, or don’t have any on hand, I assume plain ice water will work fine in this recipe.
For the filling, I simply followed a standard recipe for peanut butter pie filling. I used a plastic baggie to pipe it into the little shells. (I really need to invest in some proper piping bags and tips at some point.) However, it worked beautifully. I did the same thing for the chocolate drizzle.
I also added a few chopped peanuts to about half of my bite-sized pies for a little garnish and a little crunch. Depending on your crowd, you can add these or leave them off.
And if these photos haven’t given you enough encouragement, I really must insist you try this recipe. I was able to pass a few of these out to family and friends yesterday afternoon. Everyone gave them rave reviews.
So, without further ado, let me show you how to make them.
Here's what you will need:
Chocolate Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold
4 tablespoons Crisco
Yolk from 2 large eggs
6 - 8 tablespoons iced coffee (ice water will work as well.)
Peanut Butter Filling:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 package (8 ounce) Cool Whip, thawed
Chocolate Drizzle:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon Crisco
Chopped peanuts (optional)
Let's begin with the crust.
In a food processor (you can also do this by hand if needed), combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, and salt on low until blended. Add the butter and Crisco and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbles. Add the egg yolks and iced coffee and process with slow pulses until the dough forms a ball. Start with about 5 tablespoons of iced coffee and add more until the mixture comes together.
Press the dough into two flatten discs. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Then, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
On a floured surface, roll out your dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Then cut out the dough using a flour shaped cookie cutter. My cookie cutter is 3-inches in diameter petal tip to petal tip. Once your first set of flowers are cut, you can ball up the dough and roll it out again. Repeat until you have used as much of the dough as possible.
Gently press the flowers into an ungreased mini muffin pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 -15 minutes.
Allow the mini pie shells to cool completely in the pan before removing. This will ensure they keep their shape.
While they are cooling, mix up the peanut butter pie filling. Beat the peanut butter with the cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Then add the powdered sugar, beating again until smooth. Add in the Cool Whip and beat the mixture one final time until smooth.
Add this filling into a piping bag or large plastic bag. Pipe into your cooled chocolate pie shells.
For the drizzle, melt the chocolate chips and shortening in a microwavable bowl (or in a double broiler). Allow the mixture to cool slightly, then transfer to a plastic bag. Snip off a tiny portion of one corner of the bag and drizzle the chocolate onto the filled pie shells. Top with chopped peanut for a garnish.
PrintAnd that’s it, friends!
I know it may sound a little complicated, but they come together quickly. And I promise, they are worth the time.
The filling is obviously delicious and, as I mentioned above, I absolutely love this pie crust! It’s flaky, light, and the perfect amount of chocolately goodness.
Plus, the cuteness factor of this bite-sized pies is clearly off the scale. Based on how they look, you know they are going to be dynamite before they even cross your lips. Right?
I hope you enjoyed this recipe and I really hope you are loving A Year of Pie as much as I am. Have a fab day, everyone!
Do you think you’ll give this recipe a try?
More tasty A Year of Pie recipes:
IBC’s Go-To Pie Crust
Apple Pie with All-Butter Crust
Mixed Berry Slab Pie
Bite-Sized Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Crust (You are here!)
Double Cherry Bullseye Pie
Blackberry Crostata
Strawberry Hand Pies
Blueberry Cream Pie
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Peach and Blueberry Slab Pie
Surely, I will give this a try. With the cream cheese in it, I bet it is delicious.
These look absolutely delicious and quite decadent. Perfect to make on a snowy winter day.
Ooh these look fabulous! I think I need to give these a try. I made your crumb topped cranberry eggnog during the holidays and they were fabulous!
I love the year of pie!
Wow! These look amazing. I love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. Pinning these!
Oh hey, me again 🙂 these look delicious, I cannot wait to try them!
A little side note on the piping bags, the plastic Wilton bags that you can get at any JoAnn’s, Michaels or even Wal-Mart in the cake aisle are the way to go! You can just cut off the tip, drop in whatever piping tip you want to use and fill the bag! It makes clean up SO easy! Seriously, I NEVER get out my “real” piping bags because they are such a pain to clean!
OMG, yummy!!!!!!!!! Definitely trying this, Michael! Thanks!
These look oh-so-good! The petal pie crusts seriously bring the cuteness level of these mini pies over the top! Can’t wait to make them! 🙂
These look delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂
ok, I’m totally in LOVE with the chocolate crust!! I bet these are out of this world good!
I have tips and bags, and I still resort to baggies! 🙂 These look amazing and I might have to get a mini cupcake tin so I can make them for Valentine’s Day
Just wondering if the butter that is being used is no salt butter?
Yep! Sorry, I can adjust that. 99% of the time I use unsalted butter.
xo Michael
These look delicious! Just wondering how many minis the recipe makes? Thanks.
How many does this recipe make?
Oops, just found my answer in the printable version!
Fab recipe!
These look yummy! Your posts lately have been making my mouth water, they all look so delicious. I think I am going to have to pull out my apron and attempt some pies. I have never made a pie before so you have truly been an inspiration. Thanks! Looking forward to more goodies 🙂
Can you tell me if you used unsalted butter?
Yep, it’s unsalted.
xo Michael
I just wanna say that I Love, Love, Love your posts! From gardening, to desserts, to drinks. Thank You! Hope U Have a Fabulous Valentine’s Day 🙂
Awww! Thank you so much Cindy! V-day isn’t my favorite, but your message sure helps. Haha.
xo Michael
These look so wonderful! I’m definitely going to try them soon… and as I was reading the recipe, my brain was screaming at me with all sorts of other flavor combinations… vanilla crust with no-bake cheesecake filling topped with a white chocolate drizzle, a cinnamon crust with a pumpkin pie filling topped with some stabilized whipped cream, a vanilla crust with a lemon filling sprinkled with powdered sugar… Oh my goodness, you might have created a new trend!!!
Oh my gosh. I know. I gave them to my friend and she was sating the same thing. Lots of things to try!
xo Michael
Hi Michael! Just saw your recipe and I am totally in love! I have to do it! I live a bit far away from you, in Brazil, and measures here are quite a bit different. That’s why i wanted to check on how much exactly is a stick of unsalted butter… 200 g? Please let me know, cause I really want to make these!!! Kisses from the tropics, Barbara.
The tropics!? I want to come and visit. Our winter here has been horrible!
So I did a little research. In one pound of butter (4 sticks) there are 453 grams. So, that would make one stick 113.25 grams. Also, one stick of butter = 1/2 cup of butter.
Hopefully those conversions are helpful! You’ll have to let me know how your Bite-Sized Pies turn out. And please send some sun my way.
xo Michael
Hi Michael! Thank you so much for your quick and kind answer! I’ll probably try by the end of the week, and of course I’ll send you some pics! meanwhile, I’m sending you so sun! xoxo, Barbara
Chocolate and peanut butter anything is heaven. My fav is PB2 and chocolate soy. I’m making these but something wicked makes me want to just make a big one…or maybe it’s the lazy me. Anyway…thanks again for the inspiration :-).
Is there a substitute for the crisco? I don’t like to use it. would coconut oil work?
I assume you could just replace the crisco with additional butter.
xo Michael
How far in advance do you think I could make these? My daughter is having a Mad Hatter Tea Party for her birthday and she thinks these are darling! But I need to not be doing everything at the last minute day off.
I will definitely try these. They look yummy! I am doing a dessert table for an event in a couple of months. Do you think these would freeze well? I thought I could freeze them, thaw and drizzle the chocolate and top with the chopped peanuts. I
What if you are unable to eat peanut butter what would you recommend as a center filling?
Can I replace peanut butter with nutella?
Thank you for the fabulous recipe .. I did yesterday and it was a hit … But I had suffered a little with the dough .. It was moist .. I used only 5 T.S coffee .!! I thought maybe the Crisco must be cold like the butter?
These look incredible, would be great for a party this month, can you make ahead the chocolate crusts and freeze?
Do you have to refrigerate these? Can you make them ahead( a day or two)?
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Ridiculous! I love these and I’m totally making them at some point, probably whenever I am able to get a big crowd together. If I’m not able to serve these to a big group I just know I would eat every one of them myself.
IF you did not need a chocolate crust, but a plain one, would the quantities on this recipe work?
I want to try this, but also, do you have a non chocolate version of this? if I USED WATER and took cocoa out, woul.d that work? I don’t bake a lot.
It’s basically just a pie crust with chocolate, so you’d just need a standard pie crust recipe. You can try this one: https://inspiredbycharm.com/2014/03/ibcs-go-to-pie-crust.html
xo Michael
If you are rolling this out like pie crust, try not to use the leftover cuttings in your cut outs. re-working the dough makes it tough & crumbly instead of flaky. I tend to use lard in my crust instead of crisco or butter, amazing the flavor & texture diference.
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I know this post is kinda old but….
I am very allergic to dairy, the only thing I don’t know about substituting is butter. Would an oil or margarine work.
Brandye, I’m not sure. I’ve only made it this way, so I don’t know what would happen if you changed the ingredients. Sorry.
xo Michael
What brand is your cookie cutter?
Hi Michael,
these look pretty yum, but I am in Australia and I don’t think we have Cool Whip, do you think I could just use normal cream?
I was wondering if you could suggest another filling other than peanut butter that would work in this recipe? It looks like a great recipe, but i’m not a fan of peanut butter and chocolate together.
Made these on a rainy, dreary Sunday afternoon and they are the pick-me-up we needed to turn this day around! Absolutely delish and quite easy to make. My husband can’t stop sneaking them so hopefully we have enough to serve for dessert when the neighbours come over for supper tonight! Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe, Michael.
I make peanut butter pie a lot and if you want it a bit fluffy try heavy whipping cream instead of cool whip
Would you beat the heavy whipping cream before adding it to the peanut butter mixture?
Hi Michael,
I made these and they came out exactly as pictured and they were fabulous. The only change I made was to add some chocolate vinegar to my pie crust as I never make pie crust without vinegar (this tenderizes the crust).
I hope you don’t mind but I curated your recipe on my website. I gave proper attribution and hopefully this will result in some traffic to your wonderful site.
Thanks for this great recipe
Gloria Daniels
http://www.homeandgardendigest.com
Hi these look awesome. I want to make them ahead for a party and was curious on how to store them. Thanks
do these freeze well?
I haven’t tried. But I assume they are better fresh.
xo Michael
If I don’t have a food processor, will a standard mixer do the same job??
What a great recipe! I made these for my kid brothers on Sunday. They turned out adorable!
I hope you don’t mind but I did a pin test of your recipe on my blog. I gave proper attribution and hopefully this will result in some traffic to your wonderful site.
Grace & Peace
These look amazing! I’m thinking about making these for a bridal shower I’m throwing. Would I be able to make these the day before?
I’m not sure Beth. I’m thinking you could make the crusts and the filling the day before and then fill them the day of the shower. Assembling them a day in advance MAY result in a soggy bottom.
xo Michael
These look delicious!! Thanks for sharing. But I must ask, what does a flour shaped cookie cutter look like?? I couldn’t resist lol.
These look scrumptious! I was just wondering what Crisco is? I live in South Africa and I’ve never heard of it! 🙂
can these be frozen? I am thinking of making these for my daughters’s wedding as part of the cookie table
I didn’t try freezing them. I don’t think I’d recommend it as the pie crust could get soggy as they defrost.
xo Michael
Hi Michael,
Reposted your DIY in my blog with proper links.
Check here: http://doityourselfproject.tumblr.com/post/125898819582/diy-peanut-butter-pie-with-chocolate-crust
Your blog is AMAZING! We love it!♥
I just made these tonight and I was so excited because they are so cute and fun, unfortunately the crust tasted awful it was so bad we couldn’t even eat it. The filling however was so delicious so we licked that out and threw the crust away. I followed the recipe to the T so I’m not sure why it was so bad, I will make this again because they were still adorable but with a graham cracker crust instead.
Cherrie, It’s just a basic pie crust recipe with the addition of cocoa powder so I’m not sure what could have went wrong? Maybe one of your ingredients was bad / sour?
xo Michael
I will have to work out what to convert Crisco and cool whip to, as I live in Australia and I have never heard of either.
Crisco is vegetable shorting. Cool whip is whipped cream. 🙂
Hope that helps!
xo Michael
Not to be nitpicky, but Cool Whip is not whipped cream.
although I’m off sugar i will be making these for my guests!
These look amazing! I can’t seem to find how many this recipe makes, I’m sure I’m just missing it, could anyone tell me?
How many does this recipe make? I have looked all over and do not see it anywhere.
About three dozen.
xo Michael
Would thin roll out cookie dough work instead of pie crust? I was just curious although I am going to use your chocolate one the first time. (making them today )
How many does this yield?
About 3 dozen.
xo Michael
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Hi Michael!
Thanks for the recipe! would love to make those for a party and have a question…
How wide is the mini muffin tray in diameter, please? I’m not sure which one to order since I don.t have any at all 🙁
Thank you!
Maria, they are just the standard mini muffin pan. The cavities for the muffins are about 2 inches.
xo Michael
I made these for a baby shower. They were a hit. Very charming touch with the flower crust. I added a few pink sixlets on top of a couple of them. 🙂
Holy cow! Made these yesterday for a bake sale and man are they fantastic! Thank you for sharing. The only thing I had a lot of filling leftover. Maybe I didn’t roll thin enough. I didn’t see how many it should make. I got 36. So going to make another half recipe of dough for us!
Hello , I’m from Israel and did not understand what it is:
“cold 4 tablespoons Crisco Yolk”?
And I did not understand what it is:
” 1 stick unsalted butter”? How much is in grams ?
Crisco is vegetable shortening. 1 stick of butter is equal to 113 grams. Hope that helps!
xo Michael
Wow!! I can’t wait to make these! Do you know if you can pre make these and freeze them?
I haven’t tried freezing them. However, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.
xo Michael
So I think I used to much coffee in my pie crust and it’s kinda sticky, can i just keep adding more flour or will that take away the chelate flavor?
A little additional flour should be okay.
xo Michael
I was excited about trying out this recipe but was disappointed when my tarts shrunk
In size and puffed up in the middle . Do you have an idea what could have gone wrong?
Thank you!
Looks very nice and certainly very tasty
Doing a dessert bar for wedding and these would be great, can’t wait to try it! Thank you!
Yes, the cuteness factor pulled me in right off. I will be trying these
I would like to subscribe.
Great! You can join the IBC mailing list here:
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xo Michael
I love peanut butter and mixed with chocolate is just so delicious. Thank you for sharing this amazing pie recipe with us.
I am gluten free and dairy free but going to try this with my go to substitutes I’ll let you know how they turn out!
Can i substitute for the Crisco? Meaning leave it out?
You could try substituting with butter, but I haven’t made it this way, so I can’t guarantee results.
xo Michael
I tried these today. Several people tasted them and were disappointed with the crust. Loved the filling.
The crust was one of my favorite parts. I’m curious what didn’t they like about it? Flavor? Texture? Something else?
xo Michael