The basis of this recipe comes from the Uncommon Gourmet’s All-Occasion Cookbook. I often turn to it for parties when something a bit different from the usual finger food.
I used an individual cheesecake pan to make these. I suspect a 9″ springform pan would work OK. The original recipe suggested using a deep-disk pie pan so you could always give that a go.
At least three of our guests raved about how good these were. All 12 were eaten; always a good sign.
Peanut Butter Mascarpone Pie
Servings: 12
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 2 1/2 hours
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups pecans, divided
- 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8-10 full crackers)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp. Vietnamese cinnamon
- 4 Tbsp. room temperature butter
- 1 cup heavy cream, whipped
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 8 oz. mascarpone cheese, brought to room temperature
- 1 /12 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
- To make the crusts start by preheating the oven to 350°F. Spray each of the pan openings with baking spray.
- Toast pecans in a skillet until lightly browned and aromatic. Roughly chop; set aside 1/4 cup.
- Pulse the remaining pecans in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the crumbs, sugar and cinnamon; pulse 3 or 4 times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until well mixed.
- Put about 2 tablespoons of crumb mixture into the bottom of each cup on the baking pan. Compact crumbs into the bottom of each opening. It’s OK if a bit comes up the sides.
- Bake for 10 minutes; rotating half way through baking. Transfer pan to a rack and allow to cool completely before filling.
- While crumb base cools you can take the mascarpone cheese out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.
- To make the filling start by whipping the heavy cream in a stand mixture until stiff. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.
- Beat the remaining ingredients together using the stand mixer until fluffy. Manually fold in the whipped cream.
- Top the crumb bases with filling; fill to the top. Smooth the top with the back of a butter knife. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set; at least 2 hours or as much as overnight.
- When you are ready to serve run a thin knife along the outside edge of each cup. Push the bottom of the pie up, remove the metal plate and set on a serving plate. Garnish with the reserved pecans.
Notes:
I had leftover crumb mixture; probably because I made the individual pies rather than a single pie. You could try making two-thirds of the crumb mixture.