Honeyed Peanut Butter Pie with Roasted Bananas and Milk Chocolate Ganache

I had high hopes of starting the new year off with a healthy recipe, but I'm just not good at healthy.  I am what I am.  And since I've been wanting to blog this pie for a while, I think I'll take the opportunity today, which totally makes sense since I'm on a diet and am self-forbidden to eat fun stuff like this.  Blogging might just satisfy that part of me that is crying out for sugar and carbs.  I doubt it, but still.

This is a pretty classic peanut butter cream pie, but with the addition of a little honey for sweetness and flavor.  When my sister and I were little girls, we would not touch jelly or jam because those items were gross, icky, and BLECKY.  But honey?  We loved our little honey bear.  So my mom would mix peanut butter and honey together and spread it on our Wonder bread.

Gosh, I haven't seen Wonder bread in years.  Do they still make it?  And what about Count Chocula and Franken Berry cereals?  Where are they now? *remembering the seventies*

And what's peanut butter without a little chocolate?  Chocolate in the form of an Oreo crust and milk chocolate ganache.  And since I wanted to make this pie a little more unique, I roasted some bananas and stirred those in too.

And you know what I love best about this pie?  It's so fluffy, I could die.

I really don't have any notes.  It's a pretty straight forward recipe.

Honeyed Peanut Butter Pie with Roasted Bananas and Milk Chocolate Ganache

Printable Recipe

24 chocolate sandwich cookies, very finely crushed or ground in a food processor

4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

3 medium bananas, sliced

2 tablespoons melted butter

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 cup chilled heavy cream

8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/4 cups peanut butter

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1/4 cup chopped, salted peanuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the Oreo crumbs and melted butter in a small bowl and stir with a fork until crumbs are just moistened.  Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch deep dish pie plate.  Place crust on baking sheet, then bake for 10 minutes.  Transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely before filling.

Place bananas in medium baking dish. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons brown sugar.  Bake at 350 degrees, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.  Let cool completely.

Whip heavy cream on high speed until it has stiff peaks. 

Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium speed until the cream cheese is smooth. Beat in the peanut butter and honey.  Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir in the whipped cream.  Fold in cooled roasted bananas just until evenly combined.  Spread filling into pie shell.

Melt the milk chocolate chips and 3 tablespoons heavy cream in the microwave for 90 seconds, stopping to stir every 30 seconds, until mixture is melted and smooth.  Spread over top of pie and sprinkle with the peanuts.  Let chill for 4-6 hours in fridge or until firm.