Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).

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.

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.