AI Pie: Nutty Buddy Pie
There’s a pie I’ve been wanting to make for years now: Nutty Buddy pie, inspired by the Little Debbie snack. My version would have a wafer crust and filled with layers of sweet peanut butter and wafers and topped with chocolate. Life has kept me from this dream, so I decided to try a little experiment with ai!
I’ve asked a few of the popular ai image generators to create the photo for this dream pie, using the following prompt for all of them:
imagine a homemade pie. It should be inspired by little Debbie nutty bars—chocolate, peanut butter, and wafer cookies
I picked three that I’ve found myself using lately: Grok, Meta AI, and ChatGPT (free version). ChatGPT decided to make a recipe first, so of course I’ll include that too!
Meta AI
First up: Meta! A couple of months ago I was far from impressed by the images Meta would generate, but it has done some serious work and improved a lot!
The pie looks good, looks homemade, and included on theme props around it. Would it taste like a Nutty Buddy, judging by the look of it? I’d guess more like a Reese’s or buckeye pie, but it’d still taste good.
Next: Grok
Grok gave me two images from the prompt, and neither were really pie.
The first image Grok gave me looks delicious, but it’s a stacked bar, and definitely not a pie. I’d guess the layers are crumbled cookies, brownies, and like, straight creamy peanut butter.
The second image from Grok at least is pretending to be a pie! The top layer of this dessert lasagna is the top of a pie, but the bottom is pretty similar to the first image.
Last: ChatGPT
Unlike the others, ChatGPT went straight to creating a recipe instead of an image. I’ll include it below, then break down what I’d do differently after that.
I asked it to generate an image based on the recipe it created, so the result I think was the best. It is a pie, and we know there is a wafer layer inside because of the recipe. The wafer cookies on top are great (though the crosshatching is different sizes), and the peanut butter drizzle is making my mouth water. Do we know what that crumble is? Cookie crumbles? Wafer cookies don’t crumble like that…
ChatGPT’s Nutty Buddy Pie
(The next section is all ai generated!)
Here’s a dreamy homemade pie inspired by Little Debbie Nutty Bars — rich with chocolate, creamy peanut butter, and that signature crunch of wafer cookies:
Nutty Bar-Inspired Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
Crust:
2 cups crushed chocolate wafer cookies (or chocolate graham crackers)
6 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp sugar (optional)
Filling:
1 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural-style)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups whipped topping or whipped cream
Wafer Layer:
~10 wafer cookies (vanilla or peanut butter flavored), broken into thirds
Optional: Spread with a thin layer of peanut butter before layering
Chocolate Ganache Topping:
¾ cup heavy cream
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
Pinch of salt
1 tsp corn syrup or butter for shine (optional)
Assembly:
Make the crust:
Mix crushed chocolate cookies, melted butter, and sugar.
Press into a 9-inch pie pan. Chill for 20 minutes or bake at 350°F for 8 minutes, then cool.
Make the filling:
Beat peanut butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
Fold in whipped topping until fluffy.
Add the wafer layer:
Spread half of the filling into the crust.
Gently press in a single layer of wafer cookies.
Spread the remaining filling over the wafers.
Top with ganache:
Heat cream until just simmering, then pour over chocolate chips. Let sit 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Add salt and corn syrup/butter if using.
Pour over the top of the pie and spread evenly.
Chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
Garnish ideas:
Crushed Nutty Bars on top
Drizzle of melted peanut butter
Chocolate curls or chopped peanuts
Okay, me again. At a glance, it’s a good recipe! I could see myself using it as a base idea for my recipe, but changing a few things.
The recipe crust is what I’d imagine, though I’ve debated using a classic butter pie crust. Using cookies, I’d change the recipe to just chill the crust—baking it would take too long since you’d need to chill it after. Wafer cookies are already pretty tough. I would need to do testing to see if the texture changes before publishing my recipe.
The peanut butter filling is great, though I’m personally trying to avoid unnecessary gums, which cream cheese has. I’d play with mixing powdered peanut butter with heavy cream and make my own whipped cream. Perhaps add a layer of peanut butter to the pie if the whipped cream doesn’t have a strong enough flavor.
Wafer cookies: why do they need to be broken into thirds? Odd. I don’t mind adding some chopped Nutty Buddys to the filling, especially if a 9” wafer cookie can’t be found (I’ve actually seen them at a European grocery!).
Ganache is the only thing I wouldn’t change, at least by looking at it. Just as long as the ratios work! I’d skip mentioning corn syrup and use butter instead.
What do you think? Have you tried using ai for recipes or creating images? What other image generators should I try??
