No-Bake Deep-Dish Peanut Butter Snickers Pie with Salted Caramel

Make the crust:

1. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray; set aside. If you don’t have one, a 9-inch square pan would likely work, although I have not tested it. Do not use a 9-inch traditional pie dish because it will be too shallow.
2. Crush cookies by placing them in a food processor and processing until they’re a fine dust, noting that the filling may melt a bit which is okay. Using a Vita-Mix is not ideal because it will melt the cookies before it will crush them, and you will have to work in batches, tamping down frequently. Crushing cookies in a large Ziplock and rolling over it with a rolling pin may work, provided you take your time and make sure the cookies are broken down into a fine dust. Set crumbs aside.
3. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
4. Add the cookie crumbs to the butter, and stir to combine. Mixture will be thick, slugdy, and fudgy.
5. Turn mixture out into prepared pan, pressing it down firmly with a spatula and smoothing the top so that crust it flat and even; set pan aside.

Make the Filling and Topping:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, Cool Whip, peanut butter, vanilla and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes on medium-high speed. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl. This is a recipe I found it easier to use my handheld mixer than stand mixer.
2. Add confectioners’ sugar slowly and mix to incorporate, making sure to start mixing on low speed so sugar doesn’t fly everywhere. Beat until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
3. Turn mixture out onto prepared crust, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
4. Evenly sprinkle with diced Snickers. I used a generous 1 cup; use more or less depending on how thick you want the candy layer.
5. Evenly drizzle with caramel sauce; just eyeball it. Use more or less depending on how thick you want the caramel.
6. Cover pan with clingwrap or foil to prevent freezer smells, and place pan in freezer for at least 3 hours to set up before slicing, or overnight. I made pie 3 days before slicing it.
7. When ready to serve, allow pie to come to room temperature for about 15 minutes. Carefully remove springform ring, and slice. The pie slices easily after about 15 minutes at room temp. The filling doesn’t really freeze solid and doesn’t get as hard as ice cream does.