Peanut butter banana cream pie is a deliciously indulgent dessert, and a peanut butter lover’s dream. You’re using Nutter Butter cookies for the crumb crust, and piling on layers of rich chocolate ganache, sweet banana slices, creamy peanut butter mousse, and fluffy whipped cream. You can make this dessert ahead of time, and add the toppings close to or just before serving.
There’s no flavor duo quite like peanut butter + chocolate. But peanut butter + banana… deserving of an honorable mention, at least! Now what about peanut butter + chocolate + banana? One bite of this flavor trio and you’ll wonder why you ever stopped at 2 flavors to begin with! 😉
So Many Layers to Love
- Nutter Butter Crust: Crispy, peanutty (that’s a word, right?), and buttery, this cookie crumb crust is the perfect base for a peanut butter banana cream pie.
- Chocolate Ganache: A rich and soft-set chocolate layer, made from just 2 ingredients.
- Banana Slices: Layered in and on the pie, just like we do for banana cream pie.
- Peanut Butter Cream Filling: With its mousse-like texture, this peanut butter pie filling is a reader—and personal—favorite. Can’t wait for you to try it in this pie.
- Whipped Cream & Chocolate Curls: The finishing touches for a pie that looks as good as it tastes!
If you’re looking for a unique addition to your menu of Thanksgiving pies, this one checks all the boxes!
Start With a 2-Ingredient Nutter Butter Cookie Crust
A Nutter Butter is an American peanut butter-flavored sandwich cookie and truly one of the best cookies you can use for a crumb crust. If you can’t find Nutter Butters, you can make a regular graham cracker crust, Oreo crust, or peanut butter Oreo crust, like in this peanut butter pie. (By the way, if you love Nutter Butter cookies, try my homemade peanut butter cookie sandwiches!)
Use a food processor to grind 20 Nutter Butter cookies into crumbs, then stir in 4 Tablespoons of melted butter. My team and I tested different ratios of cookie crumbs to butter, and this was by far the best to provide a thick, crisp crust. Press the mixture into a pie dish and bake for 15 minutes. Now you can turn off the oven—that’s all the baking this pie gets!
So much easier than a regular pie crust.
2-Ingredient Chocolate Ganache
You also only need 2 ingredients for the chocolate ganache layer:
- Pure Chocolate: Make sure you use real, quality chocolate. I typically use the 4-ounce baking bars found in the grocery store baking aisle, by Ghirardelli or Baker’s. You can use quality chocolate chips instead, but the ganache won’t be as smooth, as chocolate chips have stabilizers in them.
- Heavy Cream: This may be called by another name where you are, like heavy whipping cream or double cream. Just make sure it has a minimum of 36% fat content, otherwise the ganache won’t set up quite as well.
Heat the cream on the stovetop, pour over finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl, let sit for a few minutes, and then slowly stir until the chocolate has all melted. The ganache will be very thin at first, but since chocolate is solid at room temperature, the ganache will thicken as it cools.
Spread it into your baked crust:
Make Your Peanut Butter Cream Filling
Because banana cream pie is made with a homemade vanilla pudding, I first tried making a peanut butter version. It turned out… very unappetizing, to say the least. There’s apparently a reason you don’t see many recipes for peanut butter pudding pies. I can’t figure one out!
So let’s go with what we know is the most delicious peanut butter pie filling—it’s smooth and creamy, with the right balance of peanut butter flavor that works so well with bananas and chocolate.
You need these 5 ingredients:
- Heavy Cream: We’ll whip this by itself first, and fold it in last. How convenient you also need this ingredient for the ganache AND the whipped cream on top.
- Cream Cheese: This gives the pie its structure, but we’re not using too much here, so the pie won’t taste like peanut butter-flavored cheesecake. Make sure to use brick-style full-fat cream cheese, like we use in pecan pie cheesecake, not the spreadable kind in the tub.
- Peanut Butter: To ensure a soft and smooth filling, use the conventional, processed kind of peanut butter, not natural style.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: Adds just the right amount of sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances the overall flavor.
By whipping the cream and then folding it into the rest of the filling mixture, it makes for an almost mousse-like texture. Try to hold back on just eating this with a spoon… it’s not easy!
Pictured below, left: Whipped heavy cream. Pictured below, right: Other filling ingredients.
And here’s both bowls combined:
Assembling This Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie
You pretty much have everything prepared by now. Layer banana slices on top of your chocolate ganache, and then spread the peanut butter filling right on top. I find a small offset spatula makes spreading the thick filling easy.
Now the pie needs to take a nap in the refrigerator to set up, at least 5–6 hours or overnight. Like coconut cream pie and blueberry cream pie, this is a wonderful dessert to make ahead.
Before serving, top with whipped cream, more bananas, and any garnishes you want, like Nutter Butter cookies or chocolate curls. I use the same offset spatula for the whipped cream, but you could certainly pipe it on top instead. The whipped cream uses some of the same ingredients you already need for the other layers of the pie.
Let me quickly tell you about these chocolate curls…
How to Make Easy Chocolate Curls
I kid you not, I’ve been trying figure out the best way to make picture-perfect chocolate curls for years. I’ve tried all kinds of complicated YouTube methods, and none of them really worked. The best I could manage were chocolate shavings. Tasty, sure… but not curly!
Then recently, team member Trina sent a photo of the French silk pie she made for a recent round of recipe testing, and my very first thought was: How did you make those perfect chocolate curls?
Are you ready for the trick to gorgeous chocolate spirals? Do you have a pencil and paper handy to write it all down? OK, here’s what you need:
- Hershey’s milk chocolate bar
- Vegetable peeler
…That’s it. LOL.
Simply take a standard-size classic Hershey bar and run your peeler down the side of it. These little things are fragile, so apply them to your desserts carefully! Enjoy.
This recipe is part of Sally’s Pie Week, an annual tradition where I share a handful of new recipes that fit into the pie/crisp/tart category. Join the community below!
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Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 6 hours (includes chilling)
- Yield: 1 9-inch pie
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: American
Description
This peanut butter banana cream pie starts with a Nutter Butter cookie crumb crust, then layers of rich chocolate ganache, sweet banana slices, creamy peanut butter mousse, and fluffy whipped cream. You can make this dessert ahead of time, and add the toppings before serving.
Ingredients
Nutter Butter Crust
- 20 Nutter Butter cookies (to yield 2 and 1/2 cups (290g) crumbs)
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, melted
Chocolate Ganache Layer
- 4 ounces (113g) quality semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped*
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
Bananas & Peanut Butter Filling
- 2/3 cup (160ml) cold heavy cream
- 6 ounces (170g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (250g) creamy peanut butter*
- 2/3 cup (80g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 bananas, divided
Whipped Cream
- 1 cup (240ml) cold heavy cream
- 2 Tablespoons (15g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional for garnish: Nutter Butter cookie(s) and/or Hershey’s milk chocolate bar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).Â
- Make the crust: In a food processor or blender, pulse the whole cookies (cookie AND filling) into a fine crumb. Stir the cookie crumbs and melted butter together, and then pour the mixture into an ungreased 9-inch pie dish. With medium pressure using your hand, pat the crumbs down into the bottom and up the sides to make a compact crust. Do not pack down with heavy force because that makes the crust too hard. Simply pat down until the mixture is no longer crumby/crumbly. Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool as you prepare the rest.Â
- Make the chocolate ganache: Place finely chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to gently simmer. (Do not let it come to a rapid boil—that’s too hot!) Pour over chocolate, then let it sit for 2–3 minutes to gently soften the chocolate. With a metal spoon or small silicone spatula, very slowly stir until chocolate has completely melted and mixture is smooth. The finer you chopped the chocolate, the quicker it will melt with the cream. If it’s not melting, do not microwave it. If needed, see Troubleshooting Chocolate Ganache. Once ganache mixture is smooth, set it aside while you make the peanut butter filling.
- Make the filling: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 3–5 minutes. Spoon the whipped cream into a bowl and set aside. Using the same mixing bowl (no need to rinse clean!), beat the cream cheese, peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract together on medium-high speed until combined. Mixture will be thick. Fold in the whipped cream until smooth. Be gentle, you don’t want to deflate that whipped cream.
- Assemble the pie: Spread chocolate ganache over the cooled crust. Slice 2 bananas and place the slices in a single layer over the ganache. (The other bananas are for topping the pie.) Spread peanut butter filling evenly on top—the banana slices may move around a little bit, as the filling is heavy, but take your time and spread it on as well as you can.
- Cover the pie and chill in the refrigerator for 5–6 hours and up to 1 day.
- Make the whipped cream: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 4–5 minutes.
- Slice 2 remaining bananas and arrange on top of chilled pie. Top with whipped cream. See make ahead instructions below if you want to decorate with whipped cream in advance. If making chocolate curls, run a vegetable peeler down the long side of a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar. Carefully place on top of whipped cream, if desired. Garnish with Nutter Butter cookie, if desired.
- Slice and serve cold. Store leftover pie covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: This peanut butter banana cream pie can be made up to 1 day in advance, up through step 6. Store covered in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Before serving, continue with step 7. You can add whipped cream on top of the pie a few hours before serving and refrigerate until ready to serve, but do not garnish with bananas on top that far in advance because they will begin to leak moisture and turn brown.
- Special Tools (affiliate links):Â Food Processor for crust | Pie Dish | Glass Mixing Bowl | Silicone Spatula | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Small Offset Spatula | Vegetable Peeler for chocolate curls
- Chocolate for Ganache: Real, quality chocolate is ideal for ganache to set properly. I use the 4-ounce baking bars found in the grocery store baking aisle, such as Ghirardelli or Baker’s brands. If you can’t find those, you can use high-quality semi-sweet chocolate chips instead. See How to Make Chocolate Ganache for more tips.
- Peanut Butter: Creamy peanut butter is ideal for this recipe. I recommend using processed peanut butter, such as Jif or Skippy, rather than natural peanut butter.
- Alternate Crust Options: If you can’t find Nutter Butter cookies, you can make a graham cracker crust or Oreo cookie crust—or with peanut butter-filled Oreos if you can find them! If using an Oreo cookie crust, reduce bake time down to 10 minutes.
I rarely leave reviews, but have always been impressed with Sally. This pie exists in heaven, it’s unbelievably good!
Question: When making nutter butter crust, do you crush the cookies while they still have the peanut butter filling inside or do you just crush the cookie part without the filling?
Hi Lori! Use the whole cookies (filling included).
I do a lot of baking. This is hands down top 5 desserts I have ever made. Just FYI I totally skipped the baking of the crust step because I guess my reading comprehension skills were especially low yesterday, and it still turned out perfect. I did have to use a 9 inch springform pan because the recipe seemed too big for my regular pie pan but other than that I followed to the letter. So it still 100% works as a no-bake pie too!
I made this pie for our family Thanksgiving yesterday. It stole the show and my husband raved about it! As usual, Sally’s pie recipes are the best!
Hi Sally, I’m currently living in Germany where I can’t find bricks of cream cheese. We do have the spreadable Philadelphia though… Any idea on how I can substitute that into recipes? Do I need to add in additional binders for example? I know they aren’t the same in terms of how they act in baking, but I’m really missing all my favorite cream cheese based recipes!
Thanks for the help!
Hi Kristen! In the U.S. block cream cheese is very different than the tubs and is the only cream cheese that will work for this filling. We have been told by readers outside the U.S. that cream cheese in a tub is different from ours and can work, but we have not tested it. Please let us know if you try!
My daughter requested this pie for her birthday. My husband deemed it the best pie ever. Thanks!
Can you freeze this pie? We love it.
Hi Brenda, we haven’t tested this, but I wouldn’t recommend freezing this pie. If you’ve ever frozen bananas for baking, you’ll know that they leak a lot of moisture when they thaw. You may enjoy this peanut butter ice cream pie, however!
Made this on Father’s Day; delicious and makes a beautiful presentation. (I piped on the whipped cream)
This pie is great!! I am a huge peanut butter, chocolate and banana fan, but I was worried that this might be a little too rich for some people – it’s not! I think the heavy cream folded into the peanut butter filling helps make it light. I did an Oreo crust and I think that works really well for this pie!
I have some Oreo cookies I need to use up so I will be using them for the crust. However, should I skip the chocolate ganache if I’m doing the chocolate Oreo crust? Just wondering if it would be too much chocolate. Thoughts?
Hi Deb, we would keep the chocolate ganache layer – it will be great with the Oreo crust!
Turned out Perfect. Recipe was perfect. Loved the different textures from the crust to the bananas and filling with penut butter, cream cheese and whipped cream. Winner as always!
Sally’s instructions are always easy to follow and the pie came out great!!
Would it turn out okay if I made the crust and ganache first in the evening and then the filling the next morning?
Hi Amanda! See recipe notes for our recommended make-ahead instructions.
Could you make this without the chocolate ganache layer?
Absolutely. Simply skip that layer.
Hi! Making this for a friendsgiving tomorrow and realized I just ran out of confectioner’s sugar. Any chance I could replace it in the peanut butter cream with granulated sugar? Thanks!
Hi Maxine! You really need confectioners’ sugar for the filling – granulated sugar will taste grainy.
So I remade these this morning with silicon muffin cups. Crust, ganache, chopped bananas, filling. Put them in the fridge to set up. Took them out of cups and now I can add my whipped cream as needed or wanted and freeze the rest! Delightful!
I made this pie for a co worker that LOVES peanut butter. Every. Single. Person. Every. Single. Person absolutely raved about this pie! I am going to make it again and make them in cupcake form. Not sure if it will work but I’m going to give it a go! Easier to bring back to work as individuals!
I made this today and the family and neighbors love it! Thanks for the amazing recipe. The only thing I changed was dusting it with a light coating of Hershey’s baking cocoa powder at the end. Also, I wanted to rate this 5 stars but the star thing is only letting me select 4. This is definitely a 5!!!
Would it be possible to do this in a tart pan? If so what size?
Hi Ray, there is too much crust and filling for a tart pan, unless it’s a very large one (larger than 10 inches, at least). Let me know if you try anything.
I ended up just going out and buying a pie dish. Made the recipe and it turned out incredible. I hate cream cheese, but found with the peanut butter I couldn’t even taste it!
Is there anything you can do to keep the bananas from browning? So it will stay fresh and looking great for a while?
Hi Tanya, what usually works is brushing the slices with or tossing them in a little lemon juice. Keeps them fresher-looking for longer.
Hi Sally! I’m thinking of converting the measurements to a 13×9 pan and then cutting into bars rather than pie slices – do you think it has enough structural integrity for that?
Hi Kathy, it might. I can’t say for sure without ever trying it before. It’s a sturdy pie, so it’s worth a shot for sure. If all else fails, you can just spoon it out, banana pudding style.
This looks heavenly! I love nutter-butters. What a great use for them. I wanted to know before I ruin my own pie experience if butter could be a good swap for the cream cheese? I know you say it won’t taste like cheesecake, but I 99% can always detect cream cheese and it leaves such a horrible aftertaste and upsets my belly. I understand it wouldn’t be *quite* the same taste you are looking for, but hoping the structure would still hold up and not be too… buttery tasting.
Hi! While I haven’t tested it, butter could work as a replacement but the filling will taste very, very rich and heavy. I wonder if a combo of butter and Greek yogurt could work instead? Let me know if you test it.
Could you leave the bananas out?
You can absolutely skip the bananas in this recipe.
This sounds great… I wonder what your thoughts would be on brûlée-ing the sliced bananas ?
YUM! I think that would be delicious.
I live in Serbia. Peanut butter isn’t the same as in North America. 1. It does not contain sugar it contains salt. It is a salty treat. The processed is not of the same texture they use hydrogenated oil, it’s not smooth almost feels dry. The “natural peanut butter is smooth, still Salted, and they use pumpkin seed oil to smooth/thin it out. Any suggestions for me when using peanut butter?
Hi Daniella, Without testing it ourselves we can’t be confident on how to alter the recipe to use this type of peanut butter. You can try your natural peanut butter if it’s the closest in texture to the American processed type. You may wish to use a bit more sugar if it’s not sweet at all. Sorry we couldn’t be of more help but let us know if you are able to try it!
Be still my heart!