Cutabitch Pie

This is it. THE pie. The pie that, in fact, you would indeed cut a bitch for...

Smoother than velvet peanut butter pudding, topped with a layer of barely set chocolate gorgeousness, both contained in a crispy, crumbly, buttery biscuit shell. You don't think you'd cut a bitch for anything? Well, just wait until she gets between you and the last piece of this pie...

As a super-awesome extra greatness bonus- this can easily be made lactose free!

Base:

350(ish) grams of digestive biscuits/graham crackers, crushed to rubble (make sure to check the label if you want to keep this dairy free!)

1/2 cup melted butter/dairy free margarine

Mix both together until you have what looks like wet sand. Spread, mash and squish in to a 10" pie tin, making sure to bring it up beyond the edge, creating a kind of lip (you'll see what I mean in the photos above).

Bake this in a preheated oven (18oºC) for 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool while you make the pudding layer.

Peanut Butter Pudding:

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup butter/dairy free margarine

1/2 cup caster sugar/brown sugar (either is good, brown adds a slight extra carmelly note)

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

2 cups milk (either lactose free, or other milk substitute)

Over a medium heat, beat together the flour, sugar and butter/margarine, making your roux to thicken the pudding. Stirring continually, it will go from grainy to glossy in a few minutes. Keep stirring, and, as you cook out all the floury-ness, the roux will start to pull away from the edge of the pot. Once you've reached this stage, keep stirring over the heat for a couple of minutes longer- just to make sure there is no longer any trace of flour, and to add a slightly nutty depth to the flavour.

Now add 1 cup of milk, you'll probably need a hand-whisk now to get this and the very thick roux amalgamated. Once this has been mixed in (it will still be very thick), add the second cup of milk. Again, whisk together until all is smooth and gorgeous looking. You should have a nicely velvety, thick sauce. Add the cup of peanut butter and beat in. Your sauce should immediately thicken to something dollop-able- almost like a super-smooth mashed potato. If it isn't quite thick enough, just stir over the heat for another minute or so. If it's too thick, just add a couple of tablespoons of milk to slacken it.

Dollop this in to the pie tin, then give the whole thing (carefully!) a couple of bangs on the bench to level out the pudding, and get rid of any air-bubbles.

Leave this to cool for an hour or so.

Chocolate Coating:

200g marshmallows (minus the few you'll eat straight from the bag)

100g Dark chocolate (make sure it's dairy free, as all good dark chocolate should be, and about 70% cocoa)

2 tablespoons milk (again, lactose free, or other milk substitute)

Melt the 3 ingredients together over a medium/low heat- stirring all the time to make sure the chocolate doesn't catch and scorch. Once all melted and amalgamated, pour carefully over the pudding layer. Pray for some left over.

Put the completed pie in the fridge and leave, again a few hours is enough for the chocolate to set, but this pie gets better with age, so overnight is great if possible. The whole thing will set firmer and, believe it or not, taste better.

Treat yourself to some ice-cream and left over chocolate sauce...or, my favourite, cut up a banana and pour it over. Heaven. Enjoy this cook's treat- you've worked hard, you deserve it.

Pie serves 10-12 (believe me, it really does!).

p.s. We'll upload better photos once we've made the pie again...which, believe me, will be soon!

ryan@abigail*ryan