I’m extremely excited about this post, so much so that I don’t even know where to begin. It’s been about two years in the making. Although, I wasn’t aware of how exciting this was going to be when we first started. It’s a great day because my friend Joy has released her second cookbook, Homemade Decadence, and I couldn’t be more proud of her! It’s really an incredible book and I think everyone should go out and get themselves a copy right now. If not just for the sheer excellence of the recipes and images themselves, but also because I had the honor of working with her on this book, helping her style and photograph the images. I can’t even begin to tell you about all the fun times we had working on this book together. We literally have countless stories of a very hungry cat trying to eat everything in sight—and I do mean everything, from avocado ice cream to honey cupcakes—and the acrobatics we did, juggling so much in a tiny apartment in Venice, Ca. Sometimes winning at life and sometimes failing miserably, but always having a blast. This book holds a special place in my heart because of those memories.
But enough about me. I’ve got some great news for YOU all, and it’s not just this peanut butter cream pie either. Well, it’s not only that. Although, to be perfectly honest, this pie is pretty spectacular so that should be great news enough. I didn’t want to stop there though. I decided to go all the way. So I’m giving away a free copy of the book to one lucky winner. (That means you). Yup, it’s the very first contest/giveaway I’ve ever organized here on The Candid Appetite, and I’m glad this gets to be the first one. I kind of feel like Oprah right now and I can’t get enough of it.
So here are the rules: in order to enter the contest/giveaway you need to leave a comment down below telling me about the best dessert you’ve ever eaten. And I want vivid details too, like where did you eat it? Did you make it yourself? What made it so special? What were the ingredients? (You don’t really have to answer all of that, just the name will do, but I’d love to read all about it!) You have until Friday at midnight to enter, and then I’ll randomly select one winner and notify you on Saturday! Disclaimer though, it’s only open to US residents. (I’m sorry international friends, but I’m not made of money and shipping internationally costs too much). Are you going to win this book? I hope you do! You’ll never know unless you enter! Good luck, I’m rooting for you!
There are so many great recipes in this book to choose from, that I found it extremely hard picking one to make for the blog. Just when I had decided upon one particular recipe, I’d keep browsing the book and then change my mind. This Peanut Butter Cream Pie somehow stuck the longest and then I didn’t want to make anything else. Plus I happen to really love peanut butter pie and the image in the book happens to be one of my favorites (although, I have many favorites).
It’s such an easy recipe to put together and it’s a showstopper so that makes it even better. I don’t have any funny stories to share about this recipe in particular of when we shot it. Other than the fact that I ate a giant slice of it as soon as we were done, and instantly fell in love with it. Joy knows her stuff.
We’re going to start by making the crust. Which you’ve heard me say countless times that it’s the best part of any pie. I won’t say it again, because you get the point (my love for pie crust hasn’t changed). In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt and melted butter. Stir with a fork or spoon until moistened and well combined.
**Tip: The recipe calls for regular graham crackers, but I used cinnamon graham crackers instead because they’re my favorite kind of graham crackers. You could also use chocolate graham crackers or sandwich cookies if you prefer.**
Dump the crumbs into the pie dish and pat it out onto the bottom and sides of the dish. Bake in a preheated 350ºF for about 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.
Allow the pie crust to cool down completely before filling. And I do mean completely cooled! Not warm, or sort of warm but like pretty much cooled, NO! It’s a cream filling, it’ll melt if the pie crust and dish is still warm. In the meantime, though, you can work on making the peanut butter cream filling.
Whip the cream in a large mixing bowl, until soft peaks form.
Transfer the whipped cream to a medium bowl and set aside. You can’t really sneak a taste or anything because it’s not sweetened, but if you like that sort of thing then go ahead.
In the same bowl where you whipped the cream (you don’t even have to clean out the bowl or anything), cream together the cream cheese, brown sugar, vanilla extract and peanut butter.
**Note: Make sure you use smooth peanut butter for this recipe. Even if all you have on hand is the crunchy kind, go out and buy the smooth kind. The cream filling needs to be smooth and the chunky peanut butter will prevent you from getting that silky cream pie texture.**
Stir until it’s evenly combined. Then fold in the whipped cream in batches, with a rubber spatula, folding until just combined. Do not over-mix or mix too rapidly, as you’ll deflate the whipped cream.
Continue folding until all of the whipped cream has been incorporated.
Pour the peanut butter cream filling into the cooled graham cracker pie crust. Use the rubber spatula to evenly smooth out the top of the pie to get it as even as you can. You can sneak a taste or two since the filling doesn’t need to be cooked or anything.
In a separate clean bowl, cream the remaining heavy cream until soft peaks form. Pour in the powdered sugar and cream until soft peaks form.
**Note: Be careful to not over-mix the cream because you’ll end up with butter. There’s nothing wrong with homemade butter, but we don’t need that for this pie. If you do over-mix the cream, you can fold in a splash more of heavy cream to soften it.**
Pile the cream onto the center of the pie, leaving a nice open space around the edges, just for presentation. If you want though, you can spread it all the way over the pie.
Cover the pie loosely with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours. It’s important for it to chill so that the pie has a chance to set and it’s easier to cut later on. Plus, a cream pie just tastes better when it’s chilled.
Once it’s chilled, remove it from the fridge and discard the plastic wrap. You’re almost ready to eat it, almost. We still have to finish garnishing it. Drizzle with the melted dark chocolate.
**Tip: You can pour the melted (cooled) chocolate into a plastic storage bag and snip off the end to drizzle it over the pie. Or you can use a fork to drizzle it. I used the fork because it’s rustic but also because I’m too lazy to pour it into the bag and cut off the end.**
Top the pie with chopped peanuts and mini-peanut butter cups. The peanut butter cups are optional, but Joy recommends using them because it’s fancy and because it gives the pie an extra flare. I’m all about fancy flares.
At this point you can cut and serve it and stand back as people go nuts over it, or you can place it in the fridge and keep it in there until you’re ready to serve. Just lightly cover the pie in plastic wrap. It’s okay if it touches the top, it won’t damage the pie too much.
A great variation of this pie would be to add a half cup of pumpkin purée to the peanut butter cream filling when you’re folding in the whipped cream. Also, throw in a few dashes of pumpkin spice mix to round out the flavors. That’s a great switcharoo if you’re looking to get into the spirit of autumn. We all should be getting into the spirit.
Peanut butter and I have been friends for a very long time. I can’t tell you how much I loved it (still do) as a kid. I’d sneak into the kitchen late at night, or early in the mornings, and mid-afternoon and grab a spoonful of peanut butter to snack on. Okay, so it wasn’t a spoon so much as it was my finger, but don’t tell my family.
Give this pie a try this week even if you don’t have any special occasion or excuse to make it. Make it because you deserve it. Make it because pies are delicious and anything involving peanut butter, chocolate and whipped cream is certainly a must. Have I mentioned that mini peanut butter cups are sprinkled on top?! That along should tempt you to whip up this pie.
Don’t forget to enter the contest by leaving a comment down below. Tell me all about the best dessert you’ve ever eaten. Whether you’ve made it yourself or ordered it at a restaurant. I want to hear about it! You have until midnight on Friday to enter. I’ll pick one lucky winner randomly and notify them on Saturday. Good luck!
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1½ cups heavy cream
- 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, at room temperature
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup smooth all-natural peanut butter
- 1½ cups heavy cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup coarsely chopped salted peanuts
- ½ cup coarsely chopped salted pretzels
- ½ cup mini peanut butter cups
- 2 ounces dark chocolate chips, melted
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- To make the crust, in a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt. Add the butter and stir with a fork until the mixture is thoroughly moistened. The mixture will not form a dough ball, but will stay a crumby texture.
- Dump the crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie dish and, using your fingers, evenly press the mixture along the bottom and sides of the dish. Bake until the crust is slightly golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the pie dish from the oven and let cool completely before filling.
- To make the pie filing, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream until it holds soft peaks, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl.
- In the same bowl of the electric mixer (you don't have to rinse it out) fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and pliable, about 3 minutes. Add the brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and beat well. Beat in the peanut butter until smooth. Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in a quarter of the whipped cream. Gently fold in another quarter of the whipped cream. Repeat twice with the remaining whipped cream until the mixture is well incorporated but still fluffy. Spoon the filling into the prepared crust.
- For the whipped cream topping, in the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream and powdered sugar until it holds soft speaks, 4 to 5 minutes. Top the pie with the whipped cream mixture. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
- Just before serving, generously drizzle the melted chocolate on top of the pie with a fork. Sprinkle with peanut butter cups and chopped peanuts. Cut and serve. The pie will last, well wrapped in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days. Enjoy!
- yield: 1 9-inch pie
My first cannoli when I was about 6 or so, the crunch the cream the everything stayed with me and it is still one on my favorites. Although this recipe might change that.
This pie looks so nyummy! I look forward to giving it a whirl. I think the best dessert I have ever had would be a lemon meringue cake from a bakery close by named ‘Sweet Surrender’. They don’t always have it, but it is sooo good!!! If you ask me tomorrow, though, it might be a different dessert.
Tiramisu in Italy!
anything from vegan treats! (vegantreats.com) their desserts are incredible!
Favorite dessert is an impossible question — too many to choose just one! However, my “go-to” favorite dessert to make is Bakerella’s Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese frosting. Super simple and delicious!
The best dessert I’ve ever eaten was Rose Ice Cream, sitting in Paris by the Seine, soaking up a beautiful October day. The only thing that has ever compared was eating gelato on the beach in Barcelona. Can you tell I have a thing for Europe and cold desserts?
Great giveaway!
The best dessert I’ve ever had is at a restaurant called Vinci in Chicago. Its a vanilla bean panna cotta served with a balsamic/cherry sauce and topped with crunchy sugared slivered almonds. Amazing!
The best desserts I’ve ever eaten are my mom’s cinnamon rolls. This last time, she made then with a thick, brown sugary/buttery filling. The bottoms of the rolls were all caramelized and crunchy, the middle was soft and fluffy and sugary, and the tops were iced with a thick maple brown sugar frosting. It pretty much melted in your mouth like a fresh Krispy Kreme doughnut. Aaaand now I’m hungry. Lol
Ice cream from Jeni’s in the Short North of Columbus, OH! Delicious and always brings up good memories.
I would loooooove this book! And I love peanut butter pies. I think the best dessert I’ve ever had was actually a white wedding cake (weird!) with delicious buttercream icing! I’m not sure who baked it, but it was up in Fort Worth, TX…
I had this incredible apple pie at a little Italian restaurant in my hometown. I know, I know, just apple pie? But they baked it right in this little skillet and served still sizzling with a luscious salted caramel sauce. The crust was beyond perfect, and of course, served with homemade cinnamon vanilla ice cream. My family and I fought over the empty dish and practically licked it clean, it was that good.
I was out with my mother for dinner before going to a musical in high school. I ordered Chocolate Mousse for the first time (after being assured it tasted nothing like pudding). OMG. It was glorious! I remember seeing a little bit in the glass that I couldn’t get to with my spoon and I really wanted to stick my finger in there and scrap it up, but we were being all classy that night – lol.
This pie makes me want to get out my stretchy pants so I can eat slice after slice 🙂
My favorite, and most memorable, dessert ever was salted caramel apple pie from Four & Twenty Blackbirds pie shop in Brooklyn. Everything about it was perfect – good sweet & salty balance and the most amazing pie crust. It inspired me to get over my fear of pie dough, and make my own version at home. I’ve now made this pie no less than 10 times 🙂
Made some cherry clafoutis for a small gathering and everyone raved about it…even though I left in the seeds….it was magnificent.
ahh, but you did it right–the French leave the pits in because it gives the clafoutis more flavor when it bakes!
Such a gorgeous looking cake!! The best dessert I ever had was an Angel pie made by my mom. Growing up, we never had birthday cake. Our family tradition was always to have Angel pie. It’s a chocolate mousse center in a meringue pecan shell. Yum!!
Mud pie from a little restaurant in Vegas.
I have been drying to get my hands on Joy’s book!
The best dessert I have ever had is my mom’s strawberry rhubarb pie… the homemade crust is perfect – flaky and buttery. And the sweetness of the strawberries goes perfectly with the tart rhubarb. It reminds me of summers at the cabin.
My favorite dessert is at Herbsaint in New Orleans. A salted caramel chocolate pudding cake with cashew ice cream and cashew caramel corn. It is insanely good–I’ll go to the restaurant just for dessert!
This pie looks great, though. My go-to peanut butter pie recipe is from a restaurant in Mobile, Al, but this one looks better!
It would have to be this giant Reeses peanut butter cup ice cream dessert. My husband told me about it, and we went to the restaurant to try it….as our first date! It was really tasty with hot fudge sauce drizzled on top. We went back for our one year anniversary after, but then they closed. 🙁
Creme Brulee little restaurant in Utah.
This pie looks amazing! I’m definitely adding it to my list of Thanksgiving pies to make this year 🙂
The best dessert I’ve ever had was a slice of coconut cream pie, at a bar while I was on solo vacation in Charleston. I don’t know if it was the atmosphere or the whisky or if it just really was THAT good, but it’s stuck with for years.
The best dessert has to be a chocolate pecan pie I had at a place called pie sisters in Washington D.C. It was sweet and delicious and I immediately wanted to buy more because it was that good.
The best dessert I’ve ever eaten: sounds cliche, but any time i get to sit down and enjoy a tasty treat with my family & friends tops the ‘best’ dessert in my book! I LOVE to bake and get such pleasure out of serving the ones I love.
My favorite dessert ever is made by my grocery store bakery. I know I know, I judge myself too for saying this but this cake is SO good. It’s called a Chocolate War Cake. Light chocolate layers with rich chocolate ganache layered between and frosted on the outside. It has chocolate dipped strawberries that adorn the top. These alternate with thick chocolate spears that are placed vertically into the top layer of the cake. Oh my lord, it is amazing at it sounds! I would love Joy’s book! 🙂
These amazing peach dumplings…. anything with peaches and I’m hooked, though. 🙂
Tiramisu from an Italian restaurant here in Denver. Rich, fluffy, decadent, and as delicious to look at as it was to eat. I have pictures of it and look at them often.
My hubby just made a homemade chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting for our 4-yr-olds birthday. My hub loves to cook, but never bakes. He knocked it out of the park! Best chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted!!!
The best dessert I’ve had is a chocolate cake called Voodoo Chocolate Cake. It’s got at least two kinds of chocolate plus chocolate chips in the batter. It’s so rich and moist and it’s even delicious when you freeze a piece and have it as a snack.
This pie looks absolutely delicious – I cannot wait to make it!!!!
As for my most memorable dessert, its hard to choose b/c I have sooooo many (mainly b/c my Dad is a custom baker and when we get in the kitchen together – all of the worlds outside noise seems to disappear & we focus on all the different ingredients & what kind of crazy concoction can we whip up…..like our Egg Nog mashed potatoes – YUM). Ok, ok…..not trying to get mushy on here. haha.
Anywho, I would say either my Dads homemade Strawberry Shortcake cake which includes his own whipped topping w/ strawberries infused in the topping (mainly b/c the fact he makes it EVERY year for my birthday – and I am now 33 and still request it – birthday wouldn’t be complete without it & my “birthday song” that he plays – “Captain Zoom” – a little kids song that has your name in it – haha I know, I know) OR my Dads Raspberry Schnapps’ cake. Mmmmm, 4 layers of homemade vanilla cake – alternating layers of his buttercream frosting & raspberry preserves (infused with raspberry schnapps).
this book is arriving on my doorstep today and I.CANNOT.WAIT. every time i see a featured recipe from it i think “yeah, i have to find time to make that too.” we might be getting down with a julie and julia situation. krystal and joy has a good ring to it, yes?
The most delicious dessert I have ever eaten is my late mother’s Chocolate Angel Nut Pie! It was our entire family’s favorite dessert. The pie has a meringue crust sprinkled with finely chopped walnuts before baking. After the crust has cooled it is piled with a fantastic chocolate whipped cream and topped with even more whipped cream when it is served! I have to tell you how much my brother liked that pie! As an adult man with a wife and 4 children he made the pie frequently. One time after making it, he ate so much of it that he was embarrassed to have his family see the evidence of what he had done…. So he solved the problem by eating the rest of the pie and making another one before his family returned home!
Best dessert I’ve ever had was an intense flourless chocolate cake at a restaurant in Park City, UT. I dream about that chocolate cake!
For our 25th wedding anniversary, we went out to eat at a restaurant in a tower alongside the Long Beach airport, and had a fancy dinner and watched the airplanes take off and land. Along with dinner, we ordered fancy dessert. It was the first time I’d had a chocolate souffle, and it was glorious! Breaking the shell with the back of my spoon, pouring in the delicious raspberry sauce, and taking my first bite of that devine dessert (that I had missed out on my whole life), was an experience I’ll never forget. I gladly dealt with a very burnt roof of my mouth for the next week. I’ve had a few souffle’s since then, but none have measured up.
I think the one of the best desserts I ever had was at Chino Latino in Minneapolis.. it was fried ice cream, fried snickers bars, and fried plantains, super tasty! 🙂 It was served surrounding a smoking buddha on a large platter.
It was the most amazing chocolate chunk cookie that had giant chunks of chocoalte. It wasn’t too sweet and it was a little gooey and chewy with a slightly crisp edge..perfection!
best dessert I ever had was a momofuku cake that my sister made 🙂
I’m not a huge fan of desserts, but I always love bread pudding. My favorite is at the Lakeshore Grill in Minneapolis.
Your newsletters are fabulous and extremely well done! Thank you for your hard work! It’s difficult to narrow it down to one
dessert, but I’ll never forget “Black Tie Pie” served at Aurora Restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC years ago, or the “Lemon Meringue Torte”. Both were made from scratch and delighted many. I recently had a piece of a peanut butter, chocolate and bacon pie which blew me away! Strange combination, I know, but it worked beyond the imagination! It was created by a Southern cook!!!
Coffee swiss almond ice cream that I made myself for my birthday. Creamy, super strong coffee, not too sweet, and big chunks of chocolate / chopped almond bark with sea salt swirled right in. Ooh boy, it was good!
A chocolate cake with peanut butter mouse and chocolate ganache a friend made us for a random dinner party, it was so incredible I am still searching for the recipe 3 years later.
Every year my Mom makes a Brownstone Front Cake. It’s been a long standing family Christmas tradition. We didn’t have it last year because my grandmother had just passed away, but I’m hoping we have one this year. Maybe I’ll offer to make it this year to help out. Mmm…now I’m hungry reading this post as well! Thanks! 🙂
hmm, tough question! basically anything with cream cheese… but my go-to recipe is my Caramel Apple Cheesecake bars. they are incredible! sugar cookie crust, creamy cheesecake topped with a mixture of fresh cooked apples, vanilla, cinnamon (lots of it), and then a crumble topping. it’s basically heaven on earth. with caramel drizzled on top. 😉
The best dessert I ever had was a champagne cupcake with a buttercream and champagne frosting topped with an edible pink rose from “Pearl’s Cupcake Shoppe” in Richmond, VA. I’ve only managed to have it once because I continue to visit the city outside of springtime, which is when they have it available. The memory just keeps it elevated on my list of best foods! The detail in your photographs is unbelievable! This cream pie recipe has been saved on my to-do list!
congrats to you and joy! she’s an absolute beauty and you guys must be SO SO SO proud. the images are fantastic!
xoxo
Thank you SO much Stephanie! You have no idea how much that means to me! So glad you like it!
The best dessert I ever ate was a thick raspberry shake in a chocolate bag. I was 10 years old and at my first fancy restaurant about to go see The Phantom of the Opera. Such a great memory.
I have a feeling this might end up being the best dessert I’ve ever had! Until I try it though, I’d have to say a chocolate mousse cake my mom used to always get me for my birthday.
I’m not a fancy schmancy restaurant dessert fan. Give me something rustic and just plain delicious and in happy. I honestly love these peanut butter and chocolate oatmeal cookies out of the whole grain King Arthur baking book. They have to be lumpy and they have to frozen. Give me a pile of those and I’m a happy camper!!
Hi and thank you for the opportunity!!!!
The beeessttt dessert I have ever eaten was at my grandma’s house in Ukraine. It was peace jello layer, pineapple soaked white cake layer, peach jello layer, pineapple juice soaked white cake layer and then the best whip-cream cream on top. It’s moist, fruity, and creamy! Love it yum! Wish I had a recipe.
My favorite dessert would have to be my mom’s fudge she would always make at Christmas time. Local pecans, butter and tons of sugar made for a tasty treat, or a case of rapid onset diabetes. Haha
This pie sounds amazing! Thank you for sharing
i will never stop thinking about the ricotta gelato with candied orange peel that i ate from a gelateria down an alley in rome!
My best dessert was on a first date – fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Nothing tasted better than those strawberries on that date. (But this PB Cream Pie sure looks spectacular!)
My favorite is my grandma’a chocolate cream pie. Yummy!
My mom’s pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust will always be my favorite dessert. Cant wait to try this PB pie though!
My grandmother was Norwegian and her Christmas baking I looked forward to each year. She passed many years ago and, along with her recipes, I inherited her cast iron Krumkake iron that had belonged to her mother. what I thought would have the most difficult learning curve turned out to be the most simple. Good thing too, because, plain or filled with fresh whipped cream, they have always been my most favorite. Thanks for the opportunity.
The best dessert I’ve ever eaten…that’s tough, b/c I love all dessert. Possibly the chocolate chip bread pudding served at my fav peel-n-eat shrimp place? PS – love this recipe, and LOVE LOVE LOVE your photography 🙂
I lived in Kauai and was far away from my friends, family and favorite restaurants for most of a year. I’m a chef myself so although somewhat discerning about food (you know Us People will eat just about everything) I would rate the local restaurants by my own eating system. Instead of the star or points system used by most people mine was based on if my meal left me feeling angry afterwards. I mean, how can someone screw up food so badly and so consistently? If you have ever been to Hawaii and ever tried to eat something besides fish and rice you know what I’m talking about about.
But anyhow-I digress. One of the only things that didn’t piss me off was the dessert my friend and I dubbed “sexual chocolate.” It was crispy macadamia nut cookies crunched up at the bottom of a glass with rich chocolate pudding, creamy whipped creamy cream and salted caramel sauce. Need I say more? I went there for lunch one day and they informed me they weren’t serving desserts during the day anymore, and I almost flipped the table. Really. I have witnesses. Anyway, the only thing that saved that afternoon was that Laird Hamilton was waiting to give me a ride on his jet ski. But that’s another story.
Licorice gelato in Florence. I still fantasize about it.
My favorite dessert is a coconut cake that I make. It is coconut custard sandwiched between two coconut cake layers, frosted in whipped cream and sprinkled with toasted coconut! Heavenly!
I love the cooks Illistrated black bottom cupcakes. I had never attempted cheesecake of any kind before and I was so proud of myself for how well they turned out. It will forever be my favorite since it gave me the confidence ce to expand my baking horizons.
The best dessert I’ve ever eaten was an Iranian cream puff (cream flavored with rose water) in Mahshad, Iran while visiting family.
So sad that this giveaway is not opened for international 🙁 but I leave a comment just to let you know that you are a great source of inspiration, I follow you on instagram for now a year, and I juste wanted to say thank you for sharing with us you passion ! I’m trying to cooking more by myself since I have started to workout and i’m learning everyday ! I will try to buy your book by the way (and translate all you recipes, lol) Keep going like this, you’re AWESOME !
Xoxo, from France !
A freshly made Belgian waffle in Brussels. I love street food.
Just came back from a walk where I listened to Joy’s podcast!!
The book looks simply wonderful. Congrats.
It’s impossible to choose just one dessert, but if I had to it would definitely be my aunts Chardonnay cake! Once it comes out of the oven, a reduction of wine,butter, and sugar is poured over the top making it ridiculously moist and perfectly sweet. What’s not to love about wine and cake?
Personally, i’m not much of a baker so i’d rather choose something someone else has made haha. Also I can’t really remember one specific thing that was the absolute best but i think most recently it was a Filipino dessert. It was a plantain lumpia. Sooo good. It’s basically plantain wrapped in a wonton wrapper that has a tiny bit of a syrup drizzled over it. It was sweet, crunchy, and soft in the middle, but not too soft. Squishy plantains.. nope not a fan of them. It’s seems quite simple but sometimes the simple stuff is what I appreciate a little more. Not that things like a yummy creme brulee from the Yard House (restaurant in my area) is not great either or a delicious peach cobbler with come ice cream on top, yum! haha.
The best dessert I’ve ever had is definitely the Killer Chocolate Cake from a local cafe! Chocolatey goodness all around
I think my fave dessert has to be an orange ganache tart with gingersnap crust (made it up myself). Tastes just like a terry’s chocolate orange!
I made Smitten Kitchen’s Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake for Christmas one year and it changed my life. Everything was perfect- the extra-thick chocolate cookie crust (with chocolate IN the crust, mind you) and a layer of chocolate ganache and creamy coffee-spiked cream cheese filling…Lord, that might need to get made again this year.
Best dessert I have ever had was recently at Davanti here in San Diego- first you have to start off the night with the crispy foccacia with ricotta and honeycomb and a bottle of wine- and then end the night with the Crostata al Cioccolato- chocolate tart with dark chocolate and meringue and chocolate ganache! TDF (to die for duh)
Wow these peanut butter cream pie looks delicious. Especially loving that thick layer of whipped cream and chocolate topping! The best dessert I have ever eaten was when I had creme brulee (it was a ginger version) for the first time in, oddly in Bali!
The BEST dessert I’ve ever had wasn’t even too long ago! A few weeks back, my mom made mini fig tarts… there were some amazing, juicy figs at the farmers market and she made sure to snatch them and placed them atop some pastry cream in a flaky crust. Oh man. I miss those mini tarts!
I think the best dessert I’ve had is meringues with lemon curd, custard and whipped cream. Yum!
I had a tart au citron with a basil infused crust and a basil simple syrup at a restaurant in Shanghai. It was amazing.
The best dessert I’ve had came when we all brought in foods for a multicultural celebration in a Human Geography class I was taking at school. A girl brought in a fabulous mille-feuille that she’d labored over intensely the previous night, and it tasted simply divine. Such a smooth, creamy taste outranked absolutely anything I’ve tasted before or since then, and I’d love to be able to have just another taste of that fantastic dessert she made. It was a hit among everyone else in the class as well.
Anything chocolate for me… Was in France a couple weeks ago and every bakery had beautiful desserts! We had a flourless chocolate cake with a vanilla cream that was to die for. Mmmmm Thanks for taking me back!
My mom makes this chocolate decadence cake that is pure magic and heaven. It’s got ganache, fudge, cake, raspberry jam… I dream about it.
I LOVE all types of cheesecake. I would love to make this pie, but I’d have to eat the whole thing. Oh my…
My grandmother’s pound cake. It was simple and perfect. Many have tried to reproduce but none have succeeded. The combination of her ancient fluted pan, oven, kitchen and most importantly her were pure magic.
My grandmother’s lemon meringue pie. I always asked for it for my birthday instead of cake, even when I was little.
My Grand Ma’s Fried Apple Pies!!! Lawd Have Mercy talk about yummy!!! She would ask you what you wanted for your Birthday and you would immediately reply “Fried Apple Pies PLEASE!” She would just shake her head!! LOL They didn’t look like much on the greasy brown paper bag she drained them on but Honey….The Were the BOMB!! Unfortunately she died with the recipe. I’ve never had them like that again.
The pie looks amazing. It looks so thick and the toppings really finish it off. Isn’t it true that the way a dessert looks really does affect whether you find it to be better than average? I would have to say my favorite dessert is Pumpkin Spice cupcakes filled with pumpkin mousse and topped with pumpkin cream cheese icing. They are divine!
The best dessert I’ve ever eaten was the passion fruit souffle at the Kauai Grill at the Westin Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii. So light but so flavorful. Perfect.
At my surprise 50th birthday, my best friend’s husband,Paul, a former chef, made a plain cheesecake that tasted so delicious, and better than any I had had before even at restaurants, that I told him I’d pay to have him make me some to give as Christmas presents. I don’t know the ingredients, but something about it’s flavor and consistency melted in my mouth.
One of the best desserts I have ever eaten was something my family and I made. It was a pumpkin cake with salted caramel cream cheese frosting and chocolate ganache. I was so decadent!
It’s hard to pick one, since I make and eat A LOT of desserts. But one that stands out is an outstanding malted chocolate banana cream pie recipe from serious eats. It’s truly moan-inducing.
I have had so many good desserts in great places, but the ONE dessert that I love more than life itself is a lemon-ginger cheesecake that I make myself. It was on the cover of a spring issue of Bon Appetite 20 or so years ago (pre-internet!). The crust is made of crushed ginger snaps mixed with butter and nuts and then baked. The cream cheese filling (eggs, cream cheese, sugar) is cooked in a double boiler and then whipped cream and chopped candied ginger are folded in. THEN, big dollops of homemade lemon curd are spooned on top of half the cream cheese mixture and swirled with a knife. And repeat. The dessert is not baked (because it has already cooked in the double boiler), but refrigerated over night. The first time I made it, I served it at a St. Patrick’s Day dinner party that I hosted and it was a perfect finish for the orange/dijon glazed corned beef dinner. It’s a little tedious to make, because you absolutely must use homemade lemon curd, IMO. I used Martha Stewart’s recipe for the curd (it was the early 90s, after all!) The cake has a delightfully light texture (not as dense as regular cheesecake), intense (but not overwhelming) flavor, and it’s gorgeous to boot.
Holy moly this pie looks insane!! I love peanut butter but I’ve never put it in a pie before 🙂
Best dessert I’ve ever eaten would have to be the Nutella calzone I had at a little pizzeria in my hometown. It was pretty simple—crisp, mildly sweet dough filled with warm Nutella and strawberries, and dusted with powdered sugar on top—but easily one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had. I may try to recreate it at home one of these days.
The best dessert on Earth?!?! I would say mooncakes, which i can never have enough of. Since It’s used for the Mid-Autumn Festival, I can rarely get them unless I happen to be by a Asian store during the festival month. There’s so many different flavors, and the best in my opinion is red bean paste filling. I never had the chance of making it but I would love to try to one day.
My absolute favorite dessert was a Bailey’s cheese cake. As a graduation gift, my family decided to take a 3 week trip to Ireland. It was my first time out of the country and Ireland is near and dear to my heart because of my heritage. On my very first night there, we are all dead tired from the long flight so my father and I head to a local restaurant to grab some dinner. The first thing on their menu I noticed was a Bailey’s cheese cake. Now Bailey’s has always been my #1 drink of choice, you just can not beat that creamy caramel flavor, so I was very excited to enjoy such a decadent treat. They boxed one up for me and we headed back to our B&B where I enjoyed a smooth, rich cheese cake, baked to perfection with a delicate crust and wonderfully prominent Bailey’s flavor. It was the perfect start to my adventure in Ireland. To this day I’ve tried to remake that cheese cake and while I’ve come close nothing compares to fresh Bailey’s cheese cake in Ireland.
I make a family favorite, Banana cream cheesecake topped with Bavarian cream and a touch of creme anglaise on the side. I put it on a nilla wafer crust. It is pretty yummy!
This looks beyond delish!
My all time favorite dessert would have to be the Creme Brûlée Neapolitan from The Everyday People Cafe in a small down in Michigan. So amazingggggg.
A close second would be any cupcake from Molly’s Cupcakes in Chicago! YUM!
This I made a caramel cream pie. Time consuming, but the results were worth it.
This looks so so delicious!! The best dessert recently I had was the one I made from smitten kitchens cookbook. Her crepe hazelnut chocolate cake is totally amazing!! So much so that I made twice in a week!
Yikes! So hard to choose, but I’m going to say the Black and Tan brownies I made out of the “Entertaining with Booze” cookbook by Ryan Jennings and David Steele. Most different thing I had ever made up until I made a King Cake for Fat Tuesday this year. Beer in the batter, beer in the icing. Incredibly rich and delicious! PS I love Joy The Baker…the kind of love that comes from reading her blog for years and owning her first cookbook. Cool that you 2 worked together!
The best dessert I ever ate was my mother’s homemade fudge, which tastes nothing like so called “fudge” these days.
It was a cross between fudge and candy, super rich, super chocolatey, with a crackled top. The only problem is I cannot get it to solidify properly when I make it. I end up with chocolate syrup every time, but it’s great on everything.
My favorite dessert is Strawberry Shortcake when strawberries are at their peak. It always hits the spot.
The best dessert I’ve ever had is Meyer lemon bread pudding at Annisa in New York – a must try.
pb is very popular at my house. this pie looks amazing! i eat too many desserts to have a favorite! but i remember the first time i had sour cream pound cake down south with a delicious cream cheese frosting. it was great!
The best dessert I have ever had is whiskey cake from a restaurant by the same name in Dallas, TX. I found out later it was similar to sticky toffee pudding/cake which I had never had before, but it had whiskey in it! Also, it’s topped with a bourbon vanilla bean cream sauce and freshly made whipped cream. It’s become my and my husband’s favorite. I actually attempted to make it for my husband’s bday and it was just as delicious. It was a ridiculous amount of work and I was so proud of myself!
The best dessert I’ve ever had were the cherry cobblers my grandmother made from the cherry tree that used to be in our back yard when I was a child. It was struck by lightning and began to wither and die, dying a bit more each year. The yields became less and less until finally the tree was gone by the time I was 13 or 14 and, alas, gone also were those splendiferous cobblers. Grandma and I would pick cherries (I don’t know what type they were and Grandma has passed away), then she would make a cobbler in a deep metal pan that was often also pressed into service for her candied yams and her cornbread. One of my biggest regrets is never getting the recipe from her, so I don’t know how she made the cobblers. But I remember going into the kitchen after she’d pulled out the ginormous metal pan from the 1960s avocado-green oven, and the cherries and their juices were still sizzling and the crumbly topping was golden and the kitchen smelled fruity and sticky and sweet. Eventually it would cool off enough so that we could have bowls of it with ice cream. My two oldest cousins remember these magical cobblers, too, and one of them asked me a while back for the recipe, but I couldn’t help her. But no one will be able to take away those mighty and tender memories.
I don’t know about the best dessert, but I had an amazing peach cobbler from a hometown chicken place down the street from my job. It had the right balance of peaches to cobbler, and I went back on my break to get a second serving!
First off, I just wanted to say that although I’ve never commented before (see what a giveaway makes people do?!), I love your blog, both for your awesome, vivid photography and you’re quirky, down-to-earth writing. I’ve also tried some of your recipes — cinnamon donuts, waffles, pizza, sliders, to name a few — and everyone in my family has loved them. Come to think of it, I’ve had great success with every recipe I’ve tried from your blog, so thanks! Your instructions are also so well written and helpful, and the pictures that accompany each step also come in handy. Genius!!
My favorite dessert has to be my mother’s crepes — she’s able to make them so thin and perfect, and always has some of my favorite jam on hand, along with Nocilla (Spain’s version of Nutella). I can never make them as good as she does!
Thanks again for the opportunity!
The best dessert I’ve had recently was this layered raspberries and sponge cake topped with a marscapone cream. It was a perfect summer dessert I shared at a local museum’s outdoor cafe this summer.
My most favorite dessert has to be the bread pudding at some little restaurant in New Orleans. Some friends and I were volunteering for Habitat for Humanity and stopped in at this little place whose name I don’t remember. You might say, “Bread pudding?! Are you serious?!,” and, yes, I am very serious. It was filled with spices that reminded me of the holidays, home, and family even though it was March and I was 13 hours away from home. There were plump raisins alongside crunchy nuts and the bread was perfectly moist while retaining a crunchy top. All-in-all, it was a perfect end to a long, rewarding day. I am certain I would make the drive to Louisiana from Indiana just for that bread pudding… if I ever get a free weekend and some extra cash.
love my home made cinnamon ice cream…nothing much better than that
I still remember the cake my aunt made me for my first communion (I’m 62 now so that’s quite a memory). She had made either Swiss or Italian butter cream to frost it and it was the best cake I’ve had to this day.
My favorite dessert is David Lebovitz’s chocolate orbit cake. If you haven’t ever made one…put it on your list, it is fantastic!
The best dessert I’ve ever had was a chocolate pie, so the one you posted about sounds great!
The best dessert I have ever eaten is a cinnamon flat from a German bakery (that no longer exists) outside of San Antonio, TX. It tastes sort of the like a palmier, but it’s huge and you heat it up in the toaster with a whole bunch of butter on top of it. It is the best most amazing thing ever.
Oh my goodness, that peanut butter pie looks amazing!! The final pie is beautiful, but I also want to just stick a spoon in that creamy peanut butter and eat it. 🙂
My favorite dessert is a chocolate chip pie that my mom makes around Thanksgiving. It’s basically the soft part of a chocolate chip cookie inside a pie crust. It’s not particularly gourmet, but it’s so delicious and it reminds me of spending time with family.
I’m a new reader of your site and, well, given this post, I know I need to stick around. This is a gorgeous freakin’ pie and I’m in love with it. And I’m positive that this cookbook needs to be mine. ALL MINE!
So then, I suppose I need to tell you about the best dessert I ever ate, yeah? That would be my great aunt Shirley’s Tarallis. A traditional Italian cookie, these things have been making the rounds around the holidays in my family since the beginning of time. I don’t even have the recipe for it…yet. My aunt is making me promise not to share our family secret on my blog, that’s how good they are. 😉
My sister makes the best peanut butter brownies. I have her recipe, but you know how that goes. They never taste quite the same as hers. Super chocolaty, ooey gooey even after they’ve cooled off, swirls of peanut butter all through. So delicious!
my grandmother’s pecan pie! <3 <3
I love all dessert but perhaps the best is Nancy Silverton’s butterscotch budino – heavenly!
Yummy Calzones a wonderful warm rich chocolate taste sensation in Florence Italy
Molten lava cake!
My best ever dessert was apple pie with cheddar cheese slices. I remember the crust! I love buttery, flakey crust! and the apples were perfectly cooked with not too much cinnamon. I had read about cheese going with apple pie and I sliced up some cheese with it and it was the best ever. It was my first time at making a pie at 16 and I still remember it today!
the best dessert ive ever had was a tiramisu made by my korean boyfriend, now husband. he learned how from an italian restaurant in new york. he didnt even have a recipe.. just wanted to impress me with my favourite treat on my bday and he succeeded and then some. ahh.. the glory days of dating. now that we’re married, im the one always making dessert! 😉
I can’t wait to get my hands on Joy’s new book. Thanks for the giveaway and Congratulations to you as well! The best dessert I’ve ever eaten…. that’s a hard one but I’ll go with tiramisu. The very first time I had it, at a little hole in the wall Italian joint near my childhood home. I was hesitant because coffee wasn’t a flavor I liked at the time – but the first bite in I was solidly sold. Mind blown
My best dessert has definitely been gelato at the Covent Garden Market in London! It was creamy milk chocolate with whole hazelnuts in it :]
I keep making recipes and my roommates are super happy with the results. Planning to make this this weekend!
How freaking yummy is this?!? OMG. Geeze, best dessert ever?! I’d have to say my Nanny’s butterscotch pie!
I don’t know if it’s the best dessert I’ve EVER had but the first thing to come to mind is pie I made recently for a friend’s birthday: grilled banana mousse with blueberry caramel in a graham cracker crust. It came together on a whim and sinfully delicious.
I’m simple and chocolate cake is my favorite dessert. I make one that it’s to die for; literally, it’s chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I can make that cake all the time and never get tire of it!!
Ice cream, any flavor, but esp. butter pecan !
The best dessert I ‘ve ever had was a chocolate soufflé made by my daughters… They used a very dark chocolate that I got in Spain and was reserving for a very decadent treat !
This book is on my Christmas wish list, assuming I don’t win a copy first… hint! Last weekend I made a Chocolate Truffle Peanut Butter Cream pie that is da bomb! Not as rich as it sounds, especially with extra whipped cream topping, and ohhhh soooo gooooood. Hey, did you know you can stabilize whipped cream with a little drizzle of honey? Seriously, I have some fresh whipped cream in the fridge from Sunday, no separation at all.
I am a college student and avid home baker. I love trying new and intricate recipes. However, the one dessert that stands out in my mind is a simple tray of brownies. It was a Friday after a long week of high school (a rough time for just about everyone). My friends and I lugged our book laden backpacks to my house and made a simple batch of one bowl brownies. Nothing fancy or special, just the recipe on the baking chocolate box. Still warm from the oven, we ate the entire tray with forks right out of the pan. That afternoon is by far one of my fondest memories from high school and stands as a reminder that no matter how good food is, it is nothing without good company to share it with.
I’ll never forget Emily Luchetti’s blueberry pie with cinnamon ice cream at Farallon Restaurant in San Francisco – it was amazing!
It’s hard to narrow down a favorite dessert, but there is a café in my hometown that serves a strawberry tart that is delicious. The crust is a lace cookie, with pastry cream filling, topped with glazed strawberries and a beautiful drizzle of chocolate. It’s so stinkin’ good!
Mexican sweet bread. There is a small bakery in my home town that makes the best “conchitas.” Every time I visit I’ll go early in the morning when the bread is fresh out the oven. The smell and taste is pure heaven ; )
This is ridiculous… but a store bought Snickers Ice Cream bar. I don’t eat them anymore but, DAMN, I loved those!
love poppyseed cake
This pie is gorgeous and I love your photos! I’ve been eyeing Joy’s new book and I think you’ve convinced me to get it. 🙂
Oops, meant to also add my favorite dessert…I just made an apple cake and that’s my latest favorite. 🙂
Probably the triple chocolate torte from gigi’s cupcakes. I’m pretty sure I attacked it the way trunchbull eats chocolate cake in Matilda.
The best dessert I’ve ever eaten was around this time of year. It was my first year contributing to thanksgiving’s dessert table at my brother-in-law’s. It wasn’t an original recipe but an adaption from Smitten Kitchen pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting. My twist was making them into cake balls, filling the insides with the maple cream cheese frosting and dipping them in tempered dark chocolate. I also added a swirl of white chocolate just to give them an extra special touch. The combination of the hard shell with the creamy center and pumpkin spice makes for an explosion of texture is your mouth. Every one feel in love with them, since then they’ve been a must at thanksgiving dinner.
The best EVER dessert I have had in my whole little life is this salted caramel brownie from this french bakery in Charlotte, NC called Amelie’s. They are open 24 hours and the lines is always huge…. seriously ALWAYS huge even at 4am when I made a pit stop there before dropping a friend off at the airport for her 6am flight. The brownie itself isn’t huge but the flavor packed into that bad boy is just ridiculous…. in fact it’s so ridiculous that it just pissed me right off. It’s just a delicious brownie with this gooey homemade caramel on top and THEN they put some salt… ugh… I want to say there’s also some salt in between the brownie and caramel layer but I can’t say for sure.. I will do some research (aka buy a half dozen and eat them all) and let you know.
Your cream pie looks BOMB! I will have to make this for the fiance, he’s obsessed with all things peanut butter.. i guess we both are 🙂
The Pioneer Woman’s Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes!! SO good.
I just found your blog, but I want to say that I like the funny commentary you include along with the great instructions. I’m currently abroad with limited kitchenware for baking, so making this pie is out of the question. But I’m putting together a list of all the recipes I’m going to bake the second I get home, and this pie is going on the list! I love peanut butter, and this pie sounds so wonderful right now (I’m in Japan, which is not a peanut butter friendly country…). It’s hard for me to pick a favorite dessert, but since I have to I’ll go with the tiramisu made by my host mom from Luxembourg. This was the first time I had tiramisu, and the variations her recipe has from most other recipes makes it truly special. Luckily she taught me the secret recipe before I left, so I can make it for myself!
Hands down my mom’s hot fudge sundae. She makes this wicked fudge with bittersweet chocolate, heavy cream, and cinnamon. She puts a perfect scoop of caramel ice cream in a bowl and then DROWNS it with a tsunami of the hot fudge. Then she sprinkles toasted coconut on top and I die and go to heaven without any hopes of returning.
The Basque Cake from The Bristol in Chicago, IL. This cake is unbelievable. It’s essentially a thick cake batter shell with vanilla pastry cream baked in the middle. I subsequently recreated the cake at home, and was not disappointed.
the best dessert i’ve ever had is my aunt’s key lime cheesecake. my mouth is watering just thinking about it! perfectly creamy and tangy. i could eat that every day for the rest of my life.
The best dessert I have ever eaten was the apple cake my grandmother makes. Don’t be fooled by so called “best ever apple pies” or even the Polish apple cakes. Yes, it’s Polish and yes it’s an apple cake – but it isn’t just ANY Polish apple cake. It’s a “szarlotka”.
It has a moist, yet crumbly, all-butter short pastry base…on which beautifully and lightly-seasoned-with-cinnamon apples are placed. They are never mushed or cut too finely. No applesauce here. There is texture, bite, and chew. To finish, we are once again met with the short pastry…but this time grated on top…covering the delicious not-too-sweet apples with a crunchy layer.
My grandmother often dusts the szarlotka with some powdered sugar…to give it a little somethin’…but it isn’t needed…unless you’re entertaining of course.
Favorite bestest dessert? summer peach cake. I made it for a work party where it won the contest for the best dessert. It was the first time I made it and it was really a leap of faith because the picture in the recipe looked really fancy and difficult. I dared myself and made it but didn’t know how it tasted until after it won and I got a piece. It was sublime! Late summer in my mouth!
Best dessert I ever had was Hula Pie at Duke’s on Waikiki Beach. Oh and the scenery was pretty spectacular, too.
The best dessert that I ever had was chocolate mousse from a place in Arizona that doesn’t make it any more. It was the best thing I had ever eaten! Chocolate mousse is the best!
I know this is going to sound crazy, but the best dessert I’ve had was the White Molton Chocolate Lava Cake at Chili’s a few years ago. Of course, they don’t have it anymore…..
I love The Chocolate/Vanilla Swirl Cake from Ukrops bakery.
I think I’m too late, but still entering :o) Best dessert ever: Raspberry Sour Cream Tart from Bon Appetit July 2001. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and sour with simple ingredients. It’s always a crowd pleaser & the reason I now have 2 tart pans, so I can make it for larger parties. I love Joy the Baker & have been following her blog for years.
Apple pie! It’s one of my favorites it always has been! But this woman from church auctioned off one of her pies and it was the best apple pie ever. Thin, crispy, flakey, cinnamony(that’s a word right), whole grain crust. The apples were piled at least 6 inches high and cut super thin. It was perfectly juicy and flavorful as she used at least 3 varieties of apples. Bar none the best Apple pie I’ve ever eaten. Worth every penny and more!
Yellow cake layered with mascarpone frosting and macerated strawberries The Big Chill in new Delhi. It was a special that night and I have missed it ever since.
I LOVE Key Lime pie with a shortbread cookie crust! I am going to make this Peanut Butter Pie for the Football playoff game this weekend. My friends will just die ♥