Chocolate Praline Peanut Butter Pie

The pie base is vanilla pudding because I personally think peanut butter pies made with cream cheese are too sour. Nutter Butters are my favorite cookie - so they make the perfect crust! The chocolate praline flavor adds an element of surprise that really compliments the smooth and creamy peanut butter filling. And the ganache garnish - well, what's a dessert without CHOCOLATE? Overall, the texture and flavor combination of this pie is THE BEST!

• Ready In: 9 hrs
• Serves: 12
• Yields: 1 pie

Ingredients

• FILLING

• 3  ounces  cook & serve jell-o vanilla pudding mix
• 12  ounces evaporated milk
• 1⁄3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1⁄3 cup  reese's  peanut butter chips
• 2  ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 4 -8  ounces Cool Whip, thawed

• CRUST

• 24  Nutter Butter sandwich cookies, crushed
• 5  tablespoons butter, melted

• GANACHE

• 5  ounces  hershey's  Symphony candy bar, broken into rectangle pieces (Creamy Milk Chocolate with Almonds & Toffee Chips)
• 1⁄3 cup  whipping cream

Directions

1. FILLING.
2. Whisk pudding mix and milk together in saucepan until smooth. Cook until mixture comes to a full boil and thickens. Stir in peanut butter, peanut butter chips and white chocolate until melted. Pour pudding mixture into a bowl and place plastic wrap directly on surface. Refrigerate until chilled.
3. CRUST.
4. Combine cookie crumbs and melted butter and mix thoroughly. Press onto bottom and up sides of a 10 inch pie plate. Use your fingers of both hands to squeeze, press, and pinch the crumbs all along the sides of the crust. Put a lot of pressure to get the crust nicely compacted. For the bottom, use a flat bottom cup or glass to compact your crumbs. Push down quite hard to make sure the crust is really compacted. Then go around the sides one more time. Refrigerate while making ganache.
5. GANACHE.
6. Place chocolate and whipping cream in a small bowl. Microwave and stir on 30 second intervals until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Pour the melted chocolate mixture through a colander with small holes resting over a bowl to separate the chunky nut and toffee ganache from the smooth ganache. Spoon the chunky ganache (about half of the total ganache) from inside the colander evenly over piecrust. Refrigerate while folding filling.
7. Spoon the strained smooth ganache (about half of the total ganache) that is remaining in the bowl into a small plastic bag to be used later for the garnish.
8. Stir chilled pudding mixture to soften and fold in Cool Whip (use 4 ounces for a dense consistency or 8 ounces for a light and fluffy consistency). The pudding mixture may be thick, but keep folding until it is well combined. Carefully spread over praline layer in crust.
9. Make sure ganache is still pliable, otherwise hold the bag under running hot water and dry the outside of the bag (be careful not to get water in the ganache or the chocolate will seize and become hard). Snip small corner of plastic bag and drizzle the smooth ganache over peanut butter filling in a zig zag pattern. For a decorative effect, run a knife through ganache, in opposite directions.
10. Cover and refrigerate overnight.