Cooking Lesson #568: Giant Peanut Butter Cup Pie

…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen

credit: courtesy of Reese's

How you doin’? Tomorrow is National Peanut Butter Day, so we thought we’d celebrate it with a Giant Peanut Butter Cup Pie recipe!

Many, many people think that there is no candy bar better than a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. It’s a confection consisting of a chocolate cup filled with peanut butter, marketed by The Hershey Company. They were created on November 15, 1928, by H. B. Reese, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman for Milton S. Hershey.

H.B. Reese was running the Hershey Dairy test which was not successful. Reluctantly, Milton Hershey discharged Reese and wished him the best of luck in his next venture. In 1923, The H.B. Reese Candy Company was established in the basement of Reese's home in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Reese, as a past Hershey’s employee, always used Hershey Chocolate in his confections.  Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were his most popular candy; eventually he discontinued his other lines of confections.

H. B. Reese died on May 16, 1956, passing the company to his six sons. In 1963, the Reese brothers merged the H.B. Reese Candy Company with the Hershey Chocolate Corporation. The Reese brothers' original 666,316 shares of Hershey common stock represented 16 million Hershey shares valued at over $2.8 billion that paid annual cash dividends of $57.6 million. In 1969, only six years after the Reese/Hershey merger, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups became The Hershey Company's top seller.

According to 2021 IRI data, with $671.1 million in sales, Reese's is the largest confection brand, followed by M&M’s ($568.4m), Snickers ($423.7m), Hershey’s ($378.7m) and Kit Kat ($294.9m).
In 2021, Hershey’s unveiled its largest Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. The “Thanksgiving Pie” as it was called, was nine inches in diameter, weighed in at 3.4 pounds and had a price tag of $44.99. In just hours, all 3,000 units sold out!

This Giant Peanut Butter Cup pie will be a little smaller by comparison but certainly as delicious!
 
Ingredients 
5-ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1 16-ounce jar smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup almond milk
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
 
Directions

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in a glass Pyrex cup. To avoid scorching the chocolate use short bursts of about 15-20 seconds each, stirring the chocolate before the next burst.
2. Poured about 1/4 cup of the melted chocolate in the bottom of a metal pie or tart pan, then freeze it for five minutes.
3. Repeated the chocolate process with more chocolate to get a nice thick chocolate bottom shell, reserving some chocolate for the top of the pie.
4. Spoon a whole jar of peanut butter into a saucepan and add the almond milk, canola oil and powdered sugar. Stir over medium heat until the peanut butter becomes soft and workable.
5. Poured the peanut butter filling into the frozen chocolate shell, spreading it evenly throughout. Freeze it again to help keep the filling and chocolate coating from combining.
6. Remelt the remaining chocolate and pour the rest of the chocolate on top of the peanut butter layer, evenly smoothing it out. Put it back into the freezer for the last time.
7. Fifteen minutes later, the pie will look every bit as good as the Reese's version.

ChefSecret: When ready to serve, cut the pie with a warm, dry knife so it will easily slice through the thick chocolate.

Quip of the Day: “There's no metaphysics on earth quite like chocolate.”
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross.

#Desserts #NationalPeanutButterDay #NationalPeanutBoard #NPB #Reeses #Hersheys #SemiSweetChocolate #Covid19 #2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup  
                                                                            ©Perspectives/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023

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