From Chef Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

Ingredients:

Base

• 2 cups (8 oz.) pecan halves
• 1 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp butter at room temperature

Peanut butter filling

• ½ stick butter, softened
• ¾ cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• ¾ cup powdered sugar

Mousse topping

• 1 cup whipping or heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp packed soft brown sugar
• 1 cup (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Chop nuts, sugar and cinnamon in processor until nuts are finely ground. Add butter and blend until well combined.

3. Press nut mix into bottom and up sides of 9” pie plate or springform pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool.

4. In a bowl with an electric mixer or in a food processor, mix peanut butter, butter and vanilla essence.

5. Mix in powdered sugar until well blended. Add milk, if necessary, to make it more spreadable.

6. Spread into cooled nut crust.

7. Heat cream, sugar and vanilla in sauce pan or microwave until nearly boiling.

8. Add chocolate, leave for a few minutes and then stir until totally smooth. Let cool.

9. Pour 2/3 of chocolate mix over peanut butter layer and leave in fridge to chill and set. The mix will not harden like a bar of chocolate, but will be firm enough to cut.

10. Once the remaining sauce has cooled (at least 1 hour in fridge, quicker in freezer; don’t attempt to whisk if it is not cold), whisk with an electric mixer until thickened like whipped cream. This will happen very quickly.

11. Pipe the stiffened chocolate mix around the edge of the pie and serve.

Tips and Alternatives: This is extremely rich, so take only small slices and enjoy feeling guilty!

For presentation, reserve 2 Tbsp of the peanut butter mix. Add some milk to make it thinner and pour into a snack size Ziploc bag. Snip a corner off the bag and pipe a continuous circle of peanut butter mix radiating out from the center of the dish. Take a toothpick, knife or skewer and gently drag the tip through circle from outside to the center to form a pattern. Refrigerate to set.