This lovely treat of a thing is something the Mrs. whipped up as a going away present for Grid, our recently departed college freshman. Always a fan of the classic peanut butter and chocolate combination, she was sure that this pie would be a fitting climax to his final dinner at home before leaving for school.
Those of you who have been with us for a while will remember the rest of his "favorite meal" as well, steak-frites with bernaise sauce. We enjoyed the entire feast al fresco just a few days before the hurrican hit (thank goodness), and this pie stole the show.
My wife opted to change up this Bon Appetit recipe just a bit by making a crust using chocolate Teddy Grahams, but I'm sure the recipe as written below would yield excellent results as well.
This monster is the perfect combination of flavors and textures with a crisp graham or chocolate crust, a smooth-sweet peanut butter cream filling, salty-crunchy peanuts, and sweet-salty-chewy bits of honeycomb. Really, this one has it all, and is not only delicious, but is a beauty to behold as well. Beware, it's addicitve!
Enjoy! – Steve (and the Mrs.)
Peanut Butter Honeycomb Pie
Ingredients
Crust:
- 9 graham crackers, coarsley crushed
- 1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, melted
Filling:
- 8 large egg yolks
- 12 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Honeycomb:
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 tablespoons corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon baking soda, sifted
Topping:
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (do not exceed 61% cacao), chopped
- 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Honeycomb
- 1/4 cup roasted, salted peanuts
Instructions
Crust:
- Preheat oven to 325°. Finely grind graham crackers, sugar, salt, and nutmeg in a food processor.Transfer crumb mixture to a medium bowl. Add butter and stir to blend. Use bottom and sides of a measuring cup to pack crumbs onto bottom and up sides of 9" glass or metal pie pan.Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool.
Filling:
- Mix yolks and 6 Tbsp. sugar in the bowl of a stand mixers fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat at high speed until ribbons form, stopping once to scrape down sides of bowl, about 2 minutes.
- Combine milk and remaining 6 Tbsp. sugar in a large saucepan; scrape in seeds from vanilla bean and add bean. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove bean. With mixer running, gradually add hot milk mixture to yolk mixture. Scrape mixture back into pan. Clean bowl. Whisking constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove pan from heat; whisk vigorously for 1 minute. Return custard to mixing bowl, beat on high speed until cool, about 4 minutes. Mix in butter on Tbsp. at a time. Add peanut butter, powdered sugar, and salt; beat to blend. Scrape filling into cooled crust; smooth top. Chill until set, 2-3 hours.
Honeycomb:
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Combine sugar, corn syrum, honey, and 1/4 cup water in a heavy deep saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high; bring to a boil. Cook without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until sugar turns pale amber. Working quickly, add baking soda (mixture will foam up dramatically); whisk quickly just to combine. Immediately pour candy over prepared sheet (do not spread out). Let stand undisturbed until cool, about 20 minutes. Hit candy in several places with the handle of a knife to crack into pieces.
Topping:
- Stir chocolate and butter in a medium bowl set over a saucepand of simmering water until melted and smooth.
- Drizzle some of the chocolate glaze over the peanut butter filling, making a circle in the middle of the pie and leaving a 1"-2" plain border. Pile pieces of honeycomb and salted peanuts on top, then drizzle remaining chocolate glaze over.