Thursday, April 28, 2011

Strawberry Pie, Part Deux



You may remember my post about Aunt Vickie's Strawberry Pie from June of last year.

If you do, you'll remember that the only thing memorable about it was that I messed it up. It ended up looking like a dish full of jam. Great if you're peanut butter looking for a partner, not so much if you want to serve your pie on a plate.

If you're looking for perfection...you found it. I am perfectly imperfect.

Thankfully, my family doesn't really notice the mistakes. They just want to know if it's edible. That pie was edible, but I did have to serve it in bowls. I also used a store-bought graham cracker crust. Since the making of that pie, I've learned to make my own crust using only 3 ingredients.

My youngest says, "It's magic."

I should correct him, but I want to keep the dream alive. Really, who am I to crush him?

Yes, my son. Your mother is magical.

Ahem.

In honor of my Mister who is turning 45 tomorrow, I'm going to share his favorite dessert.

The right way.

It's the least I could do. ☺

Strawberry Pie

~The Players~

Crust: 1-1/2 cups crushed graham crackers (I used an organic cracker)
1/4 cup organic sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

Pie Filling: 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 Tb. sour cream
1-1/2 quarts organic strawberries (Traditionally grown strawberries are part of the dirty dozen.)
1 cup organic sugar
3 Tb. organic cornstarch

~Crust~
Place graham crackers in a freezer bag, remove the air and seal it. Use a rolling pin to crush the crackers. (One of the inner sealed packages is the equivalent of 1-1/2 cups.) Dump the crackers in a small bowl; add sugar and melted butter and mix with a fork. Press cracker mixture into bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake at 375F. for 8 minutes. Allow to cool before filling.

~Filling~
Using a food processor or blender, puree 1 cup of washed strawberries. Mix pureed strawberries, sugar and cornstarch. Heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Allow to cool to lukewarm.




Beat cream cheese and sour cream together until smooth. Spread mixture into bottom of cooled pie crust.


Slice the remaining strawberries in half and lay nicely over the cream cheese.


Pour cooled pureed strawberry mixture over the strawberries. Place in fridge and chill for at least 1 hour.


Serve with freshly whipped cream.

Unless of course you forgot the whipping cream...

Never one to back down from defeat, I'm going to own this perfectly imperfect persona.

It just works for me. ☺

Enjoy!