Architect Mom’s Easter 2014 Starring Strawberry Lemon Cream Cheese Pie

I love Easter.  Another Easter has come and gone and I personally ate about 23 devilled eggs and at least 300 jelly beans. A week later, I’m still in yoga pants – the zip ups aren’t quite ready for me…..

This Easter we had a little over twenty people over. Thankfully, my sister and sisters-in-law made the green salad, rolls and potatoes while I made some old standbys:

• Devilled Eggs
• Mary Kay’s Lamb of God
• 5 Hour Tenderly Roasted Lemon Leg of Lamb
• Ham
• Roasted Asparagus
• Ina’s Spinach Gratin we call it creamed spinach
• Apple Pie
• Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie

And I made some new ones:

• Ina’s 4 hour leg of lamb
• Sprintime Orzo Salad
• Roasted Beet and Feta Salad
• English Pea Salad
• Mile High Strawberry Pie AKA Strawberry Lemon Cream Cheese Pie
• Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Shockingly, I didn’t like Ina’s lamb as much as my 5 hour lemon lamb. The new salads were all triumphal successes; I’ll post the recipes soon along with the chocolate sour cream bundt cake. Today, I’ll share the Mile High Strawberry Pie recipe that I found in the April, 2014 issue of Southern living. The base of the pie is a creamy lemony filling, so I think Strawberry Lemon Cream Cheese Pie is a better appellation. It was a nice variation that combined both strawberry and lemon flavors. I love a lemon pie at Easter!

Strawberry Lemon Cream Cheese Pie

adapted from Southern Living, April 2014 (mile high mini strawberry pies)

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe pie crust pastry
• ****lemon filling*****
• 1-1/2 packages (12 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1 T. sour cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 t. lemon zest
• 1 T. fresh lemon juice
• *****Strawberry Topping*****
• 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped
• 10 cups fresh strawberries, hulled; halve about half of the berries
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 T. cornstarch
• 1 T. butter
• ****Whipped Cream****
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 2 or 3 T. sugar or powdered sugar

Cooking Directions:

1. Fit crust in a 9 inch pie pan. Blind bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.
2. Prepare lemon filling by beating together cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Add the 1/2 cup sugar, lemon zest and juice. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Spread the filling in the bottom of the cooled crust. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to add the strawberry topping.
3. Prepare the strawberry topping by processing 1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries in a food processor or blender until smooth. Place in a sauce pan with 1 cup of sugar stirred in. Whisk cornstarch into 1/4 cup of water and gradually whisk into the strawberry mixture. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Boil 1 minute, remove from heat and whisk in butter. Cool at least 15 minutes.
4. Toss together hulled strawberries with strawberry mixture. Cover and chill for 3 hours or until cold.
5. Beat the cream and vanilla at high speed until foamy. Add the sugar and beat until medium hard peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
6. Spoon strawberry topping over the lemon filling. Top each piece with the whipped cream.
7. Serve immediately.