So I’ve had plent of grape salad this summer, and just last week having dinner with friends we haven’t seen in far too long, I was introduced to a new delicious dessert.  Sadly, I don’t think I can find anything remotely healthy about this divine dish (well maybe the cool whip and cream cheese could be considered a valid source of calcium?), yet it’s too scrumptious not to share!  On the plus side, this is fairly decadent, so indulging too often isn’t as likely.

Ingredients

Crust

• 24 Nutter Butter sandwich cookies
• 5 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Filling

• 8oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 8oz Cool Whip, thawed and divided

Directions 

1. To make crust, crush the cookies in a plastic bag with a rolling pin, or use a food processor.  Combine with the melted butter and press into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate or square pan.
2. For the filling, mix the cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until ingredients are well blended and evenly moist.
3. Gently stir in 1 1/2 cups Cool Whip.
4. Spoon filling into crust.
5. Top with remaining whipped topping and garnish with extra cookies if desired. 
6. Freeze 4 hours or overnight until firm.
7. Let stand 1/2 hour or until pie can be cut.
8. For an added treat, drizzle plates with chocolate just before serving.

I found that the crust was a little dry, so next time I might use fewer cookies or more (yikes!) butter.  I’ve also read that baking the crust for 8-10 minutes at 375 helps it set as well).  Feel free to substitute Nutter Butters for an Oreo crust if you’d like.  And it might be tasty to top with a few pieces of crumbled toffee bar instead of cookies…

Enjoy!