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

Printable Recipe

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! 

This post is being shared with:
Full Plate Thursday/Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Weekend Re-Treat/Play, Party, Pin 
Shine a Spotlight Saturday/Dial M for Moms