Blue Ribbon Winner

This Frozen Apple and Peanut Butter Cloud Pie may be my favorite dessert ever. The recipe comes from the cookbook, Apple Pie Perfect, by Ken Haedrich. When I tasted it, I knew it was a prize winner. I entered it into the county fair and, as you can see, it won first place! It's absolutely delicious. As I said, it was rainy, snowy, and 41 degrees today so it was a perfect day to spend in the kitchen. You will love this recipe!

Ingredients:
1 large graham cracker crust

Apple Layer:
2 tbs. unsalted butter
3 firm-textured cooking apples (such as golden delicious), peeled, cored, and sliced
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbs. confectioners' sugar

Peanut Butter Cloud Layer:
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1- 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 c. smooth peanut butter
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1/2 c. finely chopped salted dry-roasted peanuts

Directions:
1) Set crust aside.
2) To prepare the apple layer, melt the butter in a large saute pan. Stir in the apples and granulated sugar and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar and cook, stirring, for 1 minute longer. Remove from the heat, scrape the apples onto a plate, and let cool thoroughly.
3) When the apples have cooled, spoon them into the crust. Use a slotted spoon and reserve the remaining juice. Put the pie shell into freezer. After 20 minutes, pour remaining juice into shell.
4) To make the peanut butter cloud layer, use an electric mixer to whip the heavy cream until it holds semi-firm peaks. Cover and refrigerate.
5)Using the mixer, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter together until smooth. Gradually beat in the sugars, then the vanilla. Mixture will be lumpy. Add the whipped cream to the peanut butter mixture, slowly blending them together with the mixer until smooth.
6)Clean and dry the beaters. Using a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Fold the whites into the peanut butter mixture with a rubber spatula until evenly blended. Scrape the mixture over the apples and smooth with spoon. Sprinkle the chopped nuts over the pie. Loosely cover with aluminum foil and place in freezer for at least 5 hours, until firm. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes prior to slicing.

For an extra flavor, swirl chocolate sauce over top of pie to serve.

This cookbook has over 100 additionally delicious recipes!