Chocolate Peanut Butter Cloud Pie

Tracy's been my neighbor for over four year now and she's someone I've liked from the moment I met her. She's always smiling and just a ray of sunshine around our neighborhood. Recently she hosted a very large neighborhood swap meet. Not only did she help me rid my house of a ton of stuff I didn't want, I was able to pick up a bunch of stuff I could use, including my new favorite book, Food Lovers Companion. So, to show my gratitude I offered to make her something sweet.
She said she loved anything with chocolate and peanut butter. I knew just the thing! I had something similar a few years ago that a friend made for me so I tweaked the recipe and this is what I came up with. I hope you had a great birthday Tracy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cloud Pie
Yield: 8-10 servings

Crust
1 package (2 to 2 1/2 cups) of Oreo cookies, separated with sweet filling removed, crushed (run them through the food processor)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

Filling
2 8 oz blocks of full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (Jif is recommended - avoid all-natural types)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 pint whipping cream, kept cold
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix cookie crumbs, sugar, and butter together into a spring form pan (9 1/2 or 10 1/2and press down into place. Bake for 8 minutes - Be careful not to over bake! You want this a little on the soft side so you can cut it later. Remove from oven and cool.

Beat whipped cream just until stiff peaks are formed. Add vanilla and continue mixing until stiff. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugar together until fluffy. Add whipped cream mixture and fold until well combined. Pour into cooled pie crust.

Melt chocolate chips in microwave. Stir occasionally until chocolate is smooth. Put a few tablespoons of the melted chocolate into a heavy duty zip lock bag. Snip the very end of the bag. Slowly pipe out a design on the top of the pie. You can also use a squeeze bottle or pastry bag instead of a zip-lock bag if you have either handy. For an even prettier design, use 1/4 cup each of dark and milk chocolate and layer the two one on top of the other. I've used two kinds of chocolate and made 4 layers.

Chill for at least 4 hours or until set.

To make it easier to cut, use a warm knife to cut through the chocolate. This is best achieved by submerging a sharp, long knife in a tall glass or pitcher of hot water. Keep a clean rag or paper towels close by too and wipe down the knife after each cut.