RITZ Humble Pie with Peanut Butter Mousse | Renee's Kitchen Adventures

Thursday, January 16, 2014

RITZ Humble Pie with Peanut Butter Mousse


As part of the RitzNYBlitz campaign with Ritz Crackers and Allrecipes, I was asked to prepare this recipe developed by one of NYC's iconic restaurants known for their amazing desserts and that famous frozen hot chocolate....Serendipity 3.  


For as many times as I have visited the city in my lifetime, I have just never had the chance to check out Serendipity 3. A few times we planned to go, but always ended up being too full from a meal to head over there for dessert!  Maybe in this year it will happen!  

The recipe, as written, is pretty fat and calorie heavy.  I was determined to shave off some of the guilt, while retaining a lot of the original flavor.  In my quest to make this recipe a little less of a guilty pleasure, I did make quite a bit of changes to the recipe.  In the end, I was pretty happy with the outcome.

According to Allrecipes, the nutritional stats for the pie, made the way it is written on their site, is as follows:  (per 1/10 of pie)  529 calories, 41.1g total fat, 34.2g carbs, 11.1g protein, and 2.4g fiber.  This calculates to 15 PP per serving. Wow! With the changes I made, I was able to shave off a little over 150 calories from the original recipe, and almost reduce the fat grams by half.  If you cut the pie into 12 servings, instead of 10, you will save even more.

Some of the changes I made were to reduce the amount of butter in the crust, use a full 8 oz. of reduced fat cream cheese instead of 4 oz. of full fat, reduce the sugar in the filling and use powdered sugar instead of granulated to help with texture, omit the chopped peanuts in the filling and use only 1 TBS on the top, reduce the amount of peanut butter in the filling, and omit the full fat whipping cream and replace it with Cool Whip Free®.  My filling was tasty and held together very well, even when left out at room temperature for about an hour.  With the increased cream cheese, I will say, it did have more of a refrigerated cheesecake feel to it, but that didn't really bother me or my family of taste testers.

I loved the crushed Ritz crackers in the crust.  Make sure you use unsalted butter when you make this, because the crackers themselves offer plenty of saltiness to the pie.


This pie would make a great addition to your menu for the upcoming big Game or anytime you're looking for a little sweet indulgence in your day!



Lightened Up RITZ Humble Pie with Peanut Butter Mousse


Servings - 10 or 12   Serving Size:  1/10 of pie or 1/12th of pie   Points Plus per Serving - (1/10th) 10 Point+  or  (1/12th) 8 Points+
1/10th of pie:  Calories - 363.1,   Total Fat - 24.3g,   Carb. - 28.5g,   Protein - 7.4g,   Fiber - 1.4g
1/12th of pie:  Calories - 302.6,   Total Fat - 20.3g,   Carb. - 23.7g,   Protein - 6.1g,   Fiber - 1.1g

Ingredients:

For the crust:
45 RITZ crackers
1 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
1 TBS granulated sugar
4 TBS unsalted butter
1 TBS peanut butter 

For the filling:
8 oz. 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup CRUNCHY peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
8 oz.  tub of Cool Whip Free®, divided
1 TBS finely chopped dry roasted peanuts

Directions:
  1. Heat oven to 300 degrees F.  Lightly spray a 9" pie plate with cooking spray.
  2. In a food processor, process RITZ crackers into fine crumbs.  Remove 1 TBS of crumbs and set aside for topping.  To the processor, add the granulated sugar and the cocoa powder.  Pulse until combined.  Remove crumb mixture to large bowl OR dump into prepared pie plate.  
  3. In microwave, melt the butter and the peanut butter together.  Stir and combine with the crumbs in the bowl or the pie plate. (where ever you choose to mix them)  *I would not recommend adding the liquid mixture to the crumbs in the food processor, as you will get an uneven coat.  
  4. Once crumbs and butter/peanut butter mixture are combined either dump into pie plate and press on bottom and up sides, or just press on the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate to form a crust.  
  5. Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes to set crust.  Remove and allow to cool completely. 
  6. To make the filling, combine the cream cheese, crunchy peanut butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer until it is smooth.   
  7. Gently fold in 3/4 of the tub (about 6 oz.) of the Cool Whip Free, reserving 1/4 of the tub for topping.  Fold until it is light and all combined.  
  8. Spread the filling in the cooled pie crust and refrigerate for several hours or overnight to set.  
  9. Before serving, use the remaining Cool Whip Free to top.  Combine the reserved 1 TBS of Ritz crackers and the 1 TBS of chopped peanuts.  Sprinkle over top of pie.  Enjoy!  
Adapted from Allrecipes

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This pie turned out nice!  At 8pp for a serving (1/12th of pie), it is worth the splurge.  If you don't like the crunchy peanuts in the filling, by all means, use smooth peanut butter instead.  It would work just fine! 

Miz Helen’s Country Cottage

22 comments:

  1. oww! I bet this salty sweet is just amazing! What a gorgeous pie!

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  2. What a beautiful photo! Great job on revamping the recipe Renee. Some desserts contain almost a full days worth of calories in one serving!

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    1. I know, it's insane! Thanks for the compliments on the photo. I'm trying to learn my new camera!

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  3. omgosh, ritz crackers in a crust sounds like such a perfect idea! I once made a crust with pecans (for french silk pie) and it had salt in it too and I loved the saltiness! perfect for a creamy peanut butter filling.

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  4. Your picture makes this delightful looking dessert very tempting. I love the idea of salty sweet and nice job substituting ingredients to make this guilt free. :-)

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  5. OMG, that looks so good! I once saw a recipe in Cooking Light for a pie - but the serving size was 1/16 of the pie - who can eat just that tiny bit of pie?!

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    1. I know...that's like less than a "sliver" lol.

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  6. You had me at "peanut butter mousse" . . . pinning for later! Yum!

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  7. Hi Renee,
    Your Humble Pie with Peanut Butter looks fabulous and I can't wait to try a nice slice of this pie! Thank you so much for helping us celebrate Three Years at Full Plate Thursday. Have a great week and come back soon!
    Miz Helen

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  8. Congratulations!
    Your recipe is featured on Full Plate Thursday this week. Enjoy your new Red Plate and have a great weekend.
    Miz Helen

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    1. wow! Thanks Miz Helen!!! Love getting your RED PLATES! :)

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  9. I really enjoyed your "lightened up" Ritz Humble Pie with Peanut Butter recipe that you shared at my Shine a Spotlight Linky Party this week. Who says "light" can't be decadent? Not me! Pinned it! Thanks for stopping by and sharing and be sure to stop by again on Saturday. Your recipe might be one of my featured posts!—Deb at DialMforMoms.com

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    1. I agree...light can be decadent and delicious too!! I will be stopping by to check out your featured posts on Saturday Deb!

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  10. Yum, a Ritz cracker crust, great alternative to a graham cracker crust! Thanks for linking up for our Pie Day Celebration on National Pie Day! :)

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  11. Hi there! Wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed your Ritz Humble Pie and have chosen it as one of my favorites from last week’s Shine a Spotlight Saturday link party. I'm getting the features organized for the next party and YOU will be featured :o) As always it starts Friday evening at 9 pm EST, and I've already PINed it to my Pinterest page. Thanks so much for linking up, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to share this week!

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    1. Wow! Thanks April! I'm honored. I'll be over to check out this week's links! :)

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