Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pie

I am surprised I have held back so long on making something with peanut butter. Have been dying to since I first opened the cook book. After making some whoopie pies not too long ago, I decided on a pie this time.

Even though this is a no cooking fridge-set recipe it is actually one of the longest so far. The first step is blitzing the cookie and butter mixture together to make the base. Although its a pie it goes into a conventional 9 inch cake tin lined with greaseproof paper. I hit against an issue here straight away. The mixture turned out very running again, as it did with the Grasshopper pie, and I could not get it to stick up the sides so had a thicker base instead. Unsure why this happened again as used the quantities given, only reason I can come up with is I don't have an actual food processor but a sort of blender thing so might not have mixed it in the same way. Am going to invest in a proper processor as need one with all this baking and also baby food making.

Once the base was in the fridge to set for 40 mins I started on the first half of the filling. It is in two parts, one with the peanut butter and chocolate and another with double cream in place of the chocolate. So had the mix sugar and cornflour with milk in a saucepan until it is thickened nicely. It took a long time of constant whisking to get there. It was then mixed with the chocolate until that had melted and stirred in well. This then went over the base and back into the fridge for around 40 mins again.

Next was whipping the double cream, which I think I might have done too much as didn't seem to go into soft peaks. Added the remaining peanut butter mixture and that went onto the chocolate mixture and back into the fridge again for 50 mins.

The final topping is whipped cream and sugar. Again that went on top and then to serve. By this time it was 10.30pm at night to not quite the time for pie and the peanut and cream layer still didn't seem set enough so left it overnight in the fridge to try tomorrow.

Finally had a slice at lunch with my tea. Getting it out of the fridge I could see the peanut and cream layer was still a little sloppy and if the tin was taken off it wouldn't have stayed in place so took a quick picture and my slice and put it back into the tin. I think it is meant to be this consistency but the biscuit base is meant to come up the sides so assuming this would hold the fillings in place. Need some advice of the bases as they never seem to come out like a paste as they should and end up sloppy and it affects the overall pie in the end. The taste was nice though. The peanut butter was divine with the chocolate and that layer had set well but the cream layer was a little too runny and once the slice was cut it seems to just slide all over the place. Not as nice as it is with the chocolate and think there was too much of a creamy taste with the whipped cream and sugar topping on the peanut and cream one. A nice and unusual flavour and something that would work well if the base had held the filling in place.

If anyone has any suggestions on the biscuit base, any would be helpful. Is it the food processor issue or have others experienced the same thing?