Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pie
It didn’t matter if my Grandaddy had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, he had no intention of dying from it…
Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pie
Todays tangent hasn’t got a whole lot to do with peanut butter pie except that in the end of my tangent, there is something awfully good to be learned – and in the end of making this peanut butter pie there is something awfully good to eat, so both end very well.
My Grandaddy is someone I try not to talk about much in public because he will always be a very tender subject to me. You’ll read more about him in the last chapter of my book where I go into detail about the type of person he was and why he meant so much to me. In the grand scheme of things, though, Grandaddy was no different from the rest of my family, a consistent positive attitude of gratitude towards life.
Grandaddy built rocket engines and tested them in firing pits most of his adult life and enjoyed each day of his job. Still, when he retired he had a lot of people thinking he’d miss it and have a hard time adjusting to the change. Grandaddy always met such concern with his usual wit and used to say “Lots of folks told me I’d have a hard time getting used to being retired. I retired on Friday, by Monday morning I was used to it.”
You ever see folks whose faces are all pinched up like they are just waiting for an opportunity to complain or find fault in something? My grandaddy was just the opposite. He was one of those folks who was always ready to smile, laugh, and tell a joke. One glance could tell you that about him, too.
But a career testing rockets doesn’t exactly bode well for a body’s state of health and my grandaddy was one of the first among his former co-workers to be diagnosed with cancer, on his birthday no less. He took it with such stride that one by one, as his co workers each received their diagnosis, they always turned to him with their fears and worries over the toll of the disease. “Jay, they say they don’t know how much longer I got left. Reckon how much longer you got?” Grandaddy got questions like this a lot and his answer was always the same “Aw, I got lots of time, I’m not planning on dying from this. I’m gonna live a long time. I still got lots of fishing to do”.
I’ll never forget that first Christmas. The doctors told us to have ours early because Grandaddy wouldn’t be with us come December. So we had a bittersweet holiday celebration in November…and spent the next several years teasing Grandaddy about the lengths he went to in order to get his presents early that year.
At a time when his friends were taking to their beds, he and my grandmother finally built their dream house on the little piece of riverfront land they’d owned for as long as I could remember and moved to a town in Alabama known as “A Fisherman’s Paradise”. When the chemotherapy made him too weak to walk to the river, he bought a four wheeler and would park it right by the front door to ride down and fish off the pier several times a day with his trusty labrador, Sweetie.
Grandaddy did just what he planned on doing, he lived a long life, outliving the doctors expectations by many years and, sadly, outliving his friends as well. He had times of extreme health, where he’d gain weight and set off traveling with my grandmother. Sometimes he’d have to get treatments again and spend a little time in the hospital, where the nurses always left his room laughing and looked forward to seeing him again on their next shift.
I’ll never forget a doctors visit he told me about once. There was a man about his age in there obviously nervous and grandaddy got to talking to him. Turns out, he’d just been diagnosed. After hearing my Grandaddy had been diagnosed over ten years prior he asked him “What did you do when you found out? ”
“What do you mean what did I do?” Grandaddy had asked.
“I mean, did you get your will in order, did you make arrangements for your funeral?”
Grandaddy looked surprised at the man and shook his head with a smile at remembering that birthday all those years ago when a doctor had told him that he had terminal cancer. “Naw, I ain’t planning on dying from this.”
Grandaddy lived his long life and he got his fishing in, just like he had always planned.
A man who was told he was dying by years end spent the next decade showing us all a thing or two about living.
And while you’re living, lets celebrate. You don’t need a birthday or special occasion because you being alive and having folks to love is reason enough to do something special for them.
Today, I’m gonna make mine a peanut butter pie and I’m gonna bake it with a head and heart full of appreciation for how wonderful my life is because they’re in it and the knowledge that life is not just good, life is wonderful and so worth living. That’s how my Grandaddy did it.
You’ll need: Confectioner’s sugar, peanut butter, milk, white sugar, a little salt, vanilla, cornstarch, and eggs.
You’ll also need a deep dish pie shell and go ahead and bake that.
Place your peanut butter and confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl.
Now moosh it together with a fork. Moosh, moosh, moosh.
You’re just kinda mixing it all up here, cutting the sugar into the peanut butter.
After a few minutes it is gonna look like this.
Now taste a pinch of it because that stuff is Goo-ooo-ood!
Sprinkle about half of that into the bottom of your baked pie crust.
Oh, the bowl I’m using today is a vintage Pyrex one in a pattern called “New Dot”. They are pretty hard to find, especially the large green one. You can find the blue one all over the place, it seems. Took me about a year to get a whole set of these. Aren’t they pretty?
My little loveseat in the background has a a new polka dot cushion and pillows on it, too. I went to a store last week because my cushions were in pitiful shape and I hit paydirt when I found these pretty lime ones on clearance. $12 a cushion! Weeeeee!
Now we gotta make our custard to go in our pie. You can call it a pudding if you prefer.
Oh goodness gracious I love a good homemade pudding/custard thingiemawhoseit!
Place your milk into a sauce pot and add your sugar.
Add a dash of salt
This is supposed to be a teaspoon of vanilla.
As you can tell that is a pretty generous teaspoon! ~giggle~
I never actually measure out my vanilla anyways. I just give it a little pour and figure what is meant to be in there will get in there! This is kind of a way of leaving the vanilla content in God’s hands. ~winks~
Add in your corn starch.
Now we’re gonna separate our eggs, putting the white in a bowl and putting the yolk in our custard.
Make sure you don’t get any yolk in your egg whites because we’re gonna make a meringue out of that in just a few minutes here and it won’t make if there is any yolk in it.
You can get fancy little egg separators that let you just dump the whole egg in there and it separates it for you but I just crack my egg in the middle and hold a half of it carefully to let the white slip right off, then I pour the yolk into the other half and gently tilt it to let the remaining white (if there is any) get in the bowl as well.
Next time you’re making scrambled eggs, give this a try (because you’re going to mix them up anyway so it doesn’t matter if you don’t do it right) and with a little practice you’ll be separating eggs using just the shell like a pro!
I’ve started letting Katy Rose crack open the eggs for recipes ever since she said “Mama, when I grow up do you think I’ll be big enough to crack eggs?” Well goodness, I had no idea it was a life dream of hers! So I started letting her do it and she is getting better but goodness do we have a mess. It is fun, though, seeing her look of delight as she cracks that egg with all the grace and finesse of a bull in a china shop. The first few were more like little egg grenades but she has since become much more gentle with it and I always brag on her regardless (and pick out the pieces of shell when she isn’t looking!).
Put your yolks into the pot as well.
Give that a good stir with a whisk.
Put this over medium heat and stir with a whisk until thickened, about ten minutes or so. STAY WITH IT as it will scorch and it will thicken up REALLY quick, usually when you are about to the point where you are wore slap out from dealing with it and ready to give up the ghost.
Okay so it isn’t that long but when you have things to do it feels like it.
This is a poor example of a pic because of all of the bubbles from my vigorous stirring but when it gets thicker, you can tell by dipping a spoon in it and seeing if it coats the back.
Imagine a smooth and creamy coating on the back of this spoon. If you have a hard time imagining that, squint your eyes a bit as you look at the photo and that should help.
Now we’re going to pour our yummy homemade pudding over the peanut butter crumbles in the pie shell.
Glory Be, isn’t that pretty?
Time to make our meringue! Place your egg whites in a mixing bowl.
Beat until gooooood and foamy, then add your additional sugar.
Then beat until soft peaks form. You can tell it is a soft peak when you pull the mixer up and it forms a point that falls slightly back a bit, like the loop on the top of a Dairy Queen ice cream cone.
Okay so I didn’t stop at soft peaks here because I was busy with the kids. ~shrugs~ It happens. My meringue has stiff peaks now but we’ll make do just fine, won’t we?
If I had soft peaks it would spread all nice-ified but now we gotta force it a bit but it still works. Your goal is to spread the meringue over the entire pie, being sure to seal at the edges (make sure it touches the pie crust all around).
Whenever you do something like get distracted and end up with stiff peaks instead of soft, I want you to picture some sweet granny shaking her head with a grin “Hon, it don’t make no nevermind, still gonna taste jes as good”
She’s right.
Now sprinkle the rest of your peanut butter crumbles over the top of the pie.
Like so.
Try not to eat it now because as good as it looks and smells, its about to be even better.
Bake that in a 325 degree oven for about thirty minutes.
The only thing that would make this pie any prettier is a sweet granny holding it and smiling with twinkles in her eyes.
Refrigerate for several hours before serving. DIG IN!
Ingredients
- 9inch deep dish pie shell
- 1 Cup confectioner's sugar
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2 cups milk
- 2/3 cup sugar
- dash salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 eggs, separated
- 4 tablespoons corn starch
- 1/4 cup sugar (for meringue)
Instructions
- Bake empty pie shell according to directions. In a small bowl, place confectioner's sugar and peanut butter. Cut sugar into peanut butter with a fork until mixture is crumbly. Place half of mixture in bottom of baked pie shell, reserve remainder.
- In large saucepot, place egg yolks, milk, 2/3 cup sugar, vanilla, salt, and cornstarch. Cover over medium to medium low heat until thick, stirring constantly. Pour over peanut butter in pie crust.
- Beat egg whites until foamy, add sugar. Continue beating until soft peaks form. Spread over top of pie, being careful to seal at edges. Sprinkle remainder of peanut butter crumbles over top of pie.
- Bake at 325 for thirty minutes. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.
Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Pluginhttp://www.southernplate.com/2010/08/old-fashioned-peanut-butter-pie.html
Ingredients
- 9inch deep dish pie shell
- 1 Cup confectioner's sugar
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2 cups milk
- 2/3 cup sugar
- dash salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 eggs, separated
- 4 tablespoons corn starch
- 1/4 cup sugar (for meringue)
Instructions
- Bake empty pie shell according to directions. In a small bowl, place confectioner's sugar and peanut butter. Cut sugar into peanut butter with a fork until mixture is crumbly. Place half of mixture in bottom of baked pie shell, reserve remainder.
- In large saucepot, place egg yolks, milk, 2/3 cup sugar, vanilla, salt, and cornstarch. Cover over medium to medium low heat until thick, stirring constantly. Pour over peanut butter in pie crust.
- Beat egg whites until foamy, add sugar. Continue beating until soft peaks form. Spread over top of pie, being careful to seal at edges. Sprinkle remainder of peanut butter crumbles over top of pie.
- Bake at 325 for thirty minutes. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Aug 17 2010. Filed under Dessert, Pie.
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[...] Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pie | Southern Plate Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pie 9inch deep dish pie shell 1 Cup confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup peanut butter 2 cups milk 2/3 cup sugar dash. Peanut butter pie is very special to my husband and me. We're both fans of peanut butter and had already tried all the peanut butter pies sold at restaurants in town when we found a peanut butter pie recipe in one of those free booklets at the grocery store the first summer we were dating 4 1/2 years ago. [...]
Oh Miz Christy – you are always talking about those wonderful kitchen utensils at the end of your arms. Look – you have a built-in egg separator! Just crack the egg and pour it into your hand. Wiggle your fingers a bit over a bowl, the white will run out and you can drop the yolk in another bowl. I find there is less chance of breaking a yolk this way. Kids will generally go “Yuck” but will secretly think it’s fun. We have five more winters to serve up here in yankeeland before we can get back down to God’s country – pray for us!
Just made the pie and it turned out beautiful. Thanks it reminded me of my Granny & Grampa Too! Love your site just stumble on by luck and it rocks!
I gave my daughter pneaut butter at 1 yr old i felt like my daughter could handle it i gave her a pb j sandwich i cut it into little bites and gave her a big cup of milk to go with it. she was fine. my doctor told me 3 years old for crackers any types of foods other than fingers foods(my daughter would grab stuff off my plate or pulle my hands towards her and take bites off my sandwich,burger)
@Julia…Wow…never thought about doing the egg in my hand like that…Hope your 5 years go smooth..
Gonna have to do this pie tonight.. I made the peanut butter fudge again last night…yummy!!
My Great Uncle Reggie grew up in an orphanage in Mississippi but he and my Great Aunt were our closest relatives when I was growing up in Houston. He loved me like his own. He taught me to make an ice box peanut butter pie that I swear by, as does everyone who tries it. I’ll stick with that recipe but yours looks really great too, and I’ll follow your reasoning to celebrate life while we’re living it and to show the ones we love that we do by making them one.
Erin can you share your recipe?
This sounds great and I plan to make it for Thanksgiving. Just wondering if you pour the custard into the pie shell on the peanut butter/sugar mixture while it is still hot?
Its thanksgiving eave and I cant find my peanut butter pie recipe…..i found this recipe over twenty years ago and im sick because i cant find it…..THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH for posting this…..its exactly the same!!!! Your the best!
[...] Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pie [...]
Gerald’s Family Restaurant (now closed) in Decatur, AL (my hometown) always had old-fashioned peanut butter pie on Sundays. It was so yummy. This is the first recipe I have seen for it, so now I will try it. I have made the quick kind with cream cheese and whipped topping many times, and it’s very good. But old-fashioned sounds great. Can’t wait to how mine turns out.
Found your recipe today and made the pie right away…enjoyed it this evening with friends in honor of National Pi day! So yummy. Thanks for sharing.
This is the BEST peanut butter pie recipe ever! My mom makes it all the time for my dad, but I needed the recipe…This one is PERFECT!
Christy,
I’m 30 years old, have a wonderful husband and two beautiful children. And I learned this week I will soon begin chemotherapy and radiation – in hopes to save my vision.
Thank you for this post. Sometimes the Good Lord sends you something you need to hear, right when you need to hear it – and I believe He worked through you this morning.
We’ll be having peanut butter pie today, and I’ve got a grand new outlook on my morning.
Thanks again!
I just passed this recipe off to a friend who is a peanut butter junky – even worse than I am. After reading it she said wouldn’t that be great with some sliced bananas in the pudding? Then she chuckled. You see, I don’t eat bananas not because of allergies but because of texture. Everyone laughs and tells me I don’t know what I am missing. But, yes, I do !
Anyway she is going to make HER pie. I made the Chess Pie this morning so at tea time this afternoon, I am going to take my well chilled pie to her house and she is going to have HER own pie and we are going to enjoy a pitcher of sweet tea and pie. She has no fear that I will eat all of her pie up. She is going through radiation therapy right now for a brain tumour and it is hard to find some things she will eat. If she is going to eat an entire pie, then so be it.
I just read thru this recipe, loving every word you wrote about “Granddaddy” and thrilled about the lovely legacy that lives on in his precious Christy. Thank you for sharing about him from your heart.
So I decided to make this pie for this July 4th wkend to honor him in a small way and because you wrote “Moosh, moosh, moosh” in describing how to mix it. That was so cute and I honor “you” today and your funny ways. Love you! T
This sounds great, can’t wait to try it. My mom makes a great peanut butter pie, but puts the peanut butter into the custard, and tops with meringue. Everyone loves it.
Hi Christy! I’m gonna try this pie really soon. I’m starting to gain more confidence while cooking (that’s what a stack of great homemade pancakes that turned out fabulously will do for you!), and now I feel that I can take on the world! Your writing makes me laugh out loud sometimes. I just love it! Thanks for talking about your Granddaddy… he was definately full of life, and was the perfect example of optimism and the will to live having much to do with the quality of your life and the length of it. Hope to see you on QVC on Sunday.
Anxious to bake both this and your lemon meringue pie with a cookie crust this afternoon. I always worry about a soggy bottom on my crust. I noticed you prebake yours, should I worry about brushing it with egg white? TY ma’am!
[...] – Peanut butter meringue pie, it was [...]
[...] Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pie [...]
I am making this right now to take over to my parents house tomorrow. My dad loves peanut butter. Whenever we go get ice cream, he gets peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter topping. Im sure he will love this.
[...] Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pie [...]
This was my mom’s recipe!!! We don’t put the extra peanut butter on top, but this is hers!
Sounds interesting! My mom always made a peanut butter pie where you put the peanut butter into the creamy filling & cook it before putting in the pie shell. She passed it down to me & now I am required to make it for every family gathering:)
Thanks for the stories!
oh my goodness, Christy….thank you for posting this recipe. My mom made this pie when I was small and the recipe is long since gone. I have been trying to remember how to make it but couldn’t get it right. So thank you from the bottom of heart for posting this. Sweet memories about to happen in my kitchen!
I’ve made this pie for year with the exception of using cool whip instead of the meringue…really excellent!
[...] and Milk Gravy, or try some fried cabbage and Sweet and Sour Green Beans. For dessert, how about peanut butter or coconut pie? YUM! While you’re at it, don’t forget to check out the latest [...]
Run to the bookstore to buy The Southern Plate cookbook! The recipes are as good as the stories and everyone needs to own this cookbook. I borrowed it from my library to “check it out” before I bought it and am hoping that I get it for Mother’s Day or my birthday or Flag Day! It really is a lovely addition to your kitchen and to your kitchen table!
This is the same as my recipie. It is our oldest son’s favorite pie. It has a delicate taste of peanut butter and is scrumtious.
I usually cook filling like this in the microwave because it is so much easier and takes less time. I set the microwave for 2 minutes, take it out and whisk it, then one minute and whisk it and it will probably only need another 30 seconds or so. Nice and smooth!!
[...] Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pie [...]
i don’t know what to say except i love you & i love that story about your granddaddy. made me cry, but in the good way! and made me think & that’s always a good thing! p.s. the pie sounds awesome as well!
Enjoyed hearing about your Granddaddy. I’m going on 7 years with throat, lung and stomach cancer. Pretty rough going with the chemo and radiation treatments everyone thought i was a goner. But slowly making it. Worked long hours all my life never had time, but now that i can’t work have found i like to cook & bake. I try alot of your receipes, reminds me of my Grandmothers cooking. I intend on getting one of your cookbooks soons as i can get ahead on bills ( anyone with a lot of medical bills knows thats humorous). Thank you for the blogs, enjoys the family stories and good cooking.
I am not a fan of meringue, so what would happen if you left that part out, just still bake it for 30 minutes? Would also be good with some layer of chocolate in there somewhere. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes and stories. Also love seeing your dishes and the stories behind them!!
I am not a meringue fan either so I baked it with the peanut butter & sugar topping over the pudding. It was fantastic! I served a bowl of whipped topping on the side. We all loved it, with or without the whipped cream. It’s not like the Goober Pie I am familiar. I think this pudding based yummy-ness is better.
Hi. New person here. What a fabulous web site! Great job! Have been all over it. I love the pictures with step-by-step instructions!!! I think I might actually be able to do this pie.
The last peanut butter pie I ever attempted was from a recipe I copied from a friend while in college. When I came to 14 teaspoons of salt in the recipe I thought, Gee, that seems like an awful lot of salt to put in a little pie, but that’s what it said. I figured it was OK because peanuts were usually salty. Need-less to say, the pie did not set up and while I have never actually tasted the Dead Sea, it must be pretty close to that pie. Duh! I figured out I just forgot to write a “/” between the 1 and 4 for a 1/4th teaspoon of salt. I can’t say my cooking skills have improved that much over time, but thankfully I have a lot more common sense. Looking forward to learning how to cook here.
Welcome to Southern Plate Cheryl!!!! I am so glad you found me!!! I hope you enjoy the recipes and I just know you will be cooking like Mama soon!!!
This recipe is now squirreled away in my “To Make for [my peanut butter-loving] Husband” folder – Thank you! He doesn’t know it yet, but you’ll soon make him a very happy man.
Now, might you happen to know of a tried-and-true Banana Cream Pie recipe, for the peanut butter-lover’s banana-loving wife? 
Everything is better with peanut butter on it! Love the recipe…..let’s add some chocolate pie filling on top of the peanut butter….YUM-YUM! ;p) Thanks!
Made this yesterday. My 3 year old has never gushed so much over any other food or treat! This just might be a new family favorite..
I am so glad to hear that everyone liked it!!! It is one of our favorites too!!
I have never had peanut butter pie this should be interesting.
Sounds delicious!
Enjoyed your Grandaddy’s story…bless his sweet heart, and yours…thanks for sharing. And I haven’t had this pie yet, but I aim to make it one day soon.
Ever since viewing “Gone With the Wind,” I’ve wanted to be like a combo of Scarlett O’Hara and Miss Melanie. I want to live life with the gusto and determination of Scarlett, and the sweetness and kindness and Christian hospitality of Miss Melanie. I see the same type of characteristics listed, as you describe your Grandaddy.
Also, I love the song, “This is the Great Adventure” by Stephen Curtis Chapman. It is the perfect song to go along with adventure God set forth for me. “Saddle up your horses….”
I’ve never had Peanut Butter Pie, maybe when my son comes for a visit I’ll make one, I’m sure he’ll love it!!!
Can’t wait to try this recipe!
My husband finally said something was too sweet for him.
we went to amish country for a couple days this week, and at one of the little places we ate i got a piece of peanut butter pie. it was so much like this one! pulling out your recipe again and making it early next week for my bible study group. it’s been awhile since i’ve made it – my boys will be thrilled. i’d make it today but i’m giving myself a break from all the pie i ate the past few days! =) mmm mmm mmm.
I know the PB pie will be great, but your story about your Granddaddy was the best and it reminded me of my Grandfather and his “mashed potatoes” we all looked forward to on the holiday table. Just found your site but will be checking it dailey from now on,,,
Welcome to Southern Plate David!!!
I love the heart and sense of humor that God has blessed you with and I love
your recipes. I have your first cookbook and so many recipes are familiar to me
from my childhood memories ( many moons ago ) that mean so much to me, as is so apparent with you. I love your stories also and end up usually both laughing and crying and I thank you for sharing them.
Oh, and I will definitely be making this peanut butter pie for my husband and friends soon. Love and God’s blessings on you and yours.
I made your peanut butter pie today for a family gathering. I havn’t tried it yet, but it looks good so far. Loved reading the story about your grandfather. Brought back memories of my ornery grandfather. I was blessed to be able to spend alot of my life in the kitchen with him and my grandmother. They taught me so much! Thanks for the recipe!
This is an absolutely great PB pie recipe! I like to “embellish” recipes sometimes when I cook so the last time I mad it, I added 3 oz softened cream cheese to the PB and confectioners sugar. Of course it changed the consistency and there were no crumbs to spread on top of the pie. I actually pressed the PB mixture into the pie shell kind of like a lining. It came out awesome!
Hubby’s grandpa was sent to hospice after his terminal cancer diagnosis. He decided he wasn’t going to spend his final days dying, so he signed out of hospice and went home for the next 2 years!