Adventures in Eating: Peanut Butter Pie

The other day my cousin told me about a wonderful dinner she’d had at a friend’s. “It was French Provincial,” she enthusiastically exclaimed. She then ex­citedly went into detail about what was served. “What was the occasion?”, I asked curiously. (It seemed like quite a luxuri­ous and romantic affair.) “Book club,” she simply replied.

In case you haven’t heard, the new craze these days is “Book clubs”. Friends get together and mutually decide on a cer­tain book. Everyone has a month to read it. After the month is over, the crowd meets at a “designated reader’s” house to discuss the novel they’ve finished. A sumptuous meal is planned around the subject and/or theme of the book.

After I became privy to this newest form of entertainment I became obsessed with matching books with the perfect “fare”. I will share with you some of my ideas.

1. Irving Stone’s “Lust For Life” (the poignant story of Van Gogh’s troubled life) with a meal consisting only of pota­toes, mashed, fried, boiled and pancaked.
2. Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” with a proper English tea, both savory and sweet.
3. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” with Champagne and caviar.
4. Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” with nouvelle cuisine.

If you are not in the mood for a clas­sic, that’s O.K.! You could settle for Car­rie Fisher’s “Postcards From the Edge” and then have the gang over for a “pig-out-party”. Serve the most decadent des­serts and be sure to include this luscious peanut butter pie! (It tastes like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!)

Peanut Butter Pie

Crust

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling

2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups sugar
2 8 oz. pkgs cream cheese, softened
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups whipping cream, whipped

Topping

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
4 Tablespoons hot coffee

Mix together graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and melted butter. Press into a 10-inch springform pan. Beat together peanut butter, sugar, cream cheese and vanilla. Beat cream separately until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into peanut butter mixture, and pour on top of crust. Refrigerate for 6 hours, or until firm. Melt chocolate and mix with cof­fee. Spread over top of pie. Return to re­frigerator until firm. Remove from pan and place on a serving plate just before serving. Then, go crazy!