Strawberry Cheescake Pie

I love pie, and I also love cheesecake. Sometimes it’s fun to put the two together. The recipe is below is for Strawberry cheesecake pie. It has a graham cracker crust and a creamy, cheesecake filling. It is topped with fresh strawberries (you can use other fresh fruit instead, if you like) that have been dipped in glaze. I like to garnish it with whipped cream. This pie tastes scrumptious…and looks impressive too. Still, it’s fairly easy to prepare. You can make it up to a day in advance of serving.

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE PIE

Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup light brown sugar.

Stir together all ingredients in a medium bowl. Press crumb mixture into a deep dish 9-inch pie pan. Refrigerate until ready to fill.

Filling:

2-8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. pure almond extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature

¼ cup heavy whipping cream

Beat the cream cheese and sugar together in a medium bowl until the lumps are gone and the mixture is slightly fluffy. Add extracts and eggs and beat until smooth.  Slowly stir in cream. Continue beating just until the cream is blended in. Pour into prepared crust.  Bake in a 325 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, until lightly golden and center is poofy and no longer jiggly. When done, remove from oven and cool on rack at room temperature for about an hour. Refrigerate 3-4 hours or overnight.

Once chilled, garnish cheesecake with fresh strawberries. If desired, you can dip halved strawberries in a prepared strawberry glaze (such as Marie’s, which can be found in the produce section of the supermarket) or in melted and cooled courant jelly.

You may also want to whip up a pint of heavy whipping cream (add about ¼ to 1/3 cup of powdered sugar, depending on taste, and 1 tsp. vanilla extract) and decoratively pipe that around the berries. If you are doing this the day or evening before serving, it’s best to add a package of Dr. Oetker’s “Whip It” (whipped cream stabilizer) to the whipped cream to prevent the piped border from losing its shape.

Enjoy!