This took first place in the category of Cream Pie at the 1999 American Pie Council National Pie Championship.
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 to 9 – inch pie shell |
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons shortening
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ cup chopped almonds
- 4 cups fresh strawberries, halved
- ¼ cup currant jelly
Instructions
- Combine flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening and butter until all the flour is blended to form pea-sized crumbs. Sprinkle with water one tablespoon at a time. Toss lightly with a fork until dough forms a ball. Chill dough 15 to 30 minutes.
- Roll dough between two sheets of wax paper into an 11 inch circle. Remove top sheet of wax paper and lay into 9 inch pie pan. Prick bottom and sides of pie shell thoroughly to prevent shrinkage.
- Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool to room temperature.
- Combine cream cheese and confectioner ‘s sugar in medium bowl. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts. Fold in whipped cream and almonds by hand until well mixed. Pour into cooled crust. Refrigerate until firm.
- Decorate pie with strawberries fully or just around the edge. Heat jelly in microwave oven just until soft and brush carefully over strawberries until glazed. Refrigerate until serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 421 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 42 g |
| Cholesterol | 59 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 256 mg |
| Sugars | 21 g |
| Fat | 27 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I bought the crust to save time. I painted the shell with chocolate and let it set before putting in the filling and strawberries. Super easy and delicious! Tipped with more whipped cream!
As a fresh fruit pie, it does not keep well even refrigerated. It is not a “make ahead” desert. It will get runny. The flavors are delicious. For use as a party desert, I used Cool Whip instead of whipped cream. The pie held up better when cut and pieces stayed formed better than with the whipped cream.
Delicious and beautiful!
This one is a keeper. I took the advice of another reviewer and used a purchased shortbread crust. I also added a few extra almonds in the cream mix, but only because I bought too many. It did end up a little watery after chilling, but I just poured it off and it didn’t seem to affect the pie at all. I placed a folded paper towel in the tin after serving a few pieces to soak up any extra that would form (so the crust wouldn’t soak it up instead) and that seemed to work. Don’t be shy with the strawberries on top, you want enough to balance the cream.
As others suggested, I made the dough – it truly was a great crust. I used sliced almonds and toasted them a little bit. I chopped a few strawberries and put them on the bottom of the pie crust before filing with cream mixture. This is a fantastic pie and I will make this again for sure.
I made this last sunday & my boyfriend loved it he told me i had to make another 1 bcuz he wasnst sharing lol he thought i baked it
Excellent!
made this for a family gathering and it was gone before I had a chance to taste it. Made again so I could try it. Will make again often
Good but labor intensive.
I thought this was a delicious pie! The almond extract gives it a nice flavor, as do the chopped almonds. I made it using pre-baked crusts,so it was very easy to make as well. The only things I did differently were: adding more cream cheese- and extra small box (I used lower fat version) and more whipping cream- 1.5 cups to make the pie fuller and denser. Lots more strawberries, and some extra whipped cream on top gave the pie rave reviews! A really nice, light summery dessert.
I’ve made this twice now. The first time as written. That was pretty good. The second time I used a store-bought chocolate crust, chopped up 2 squares of white chocolate and added that and a pint of fresh raspberries to the filling. Then I put another pint and a half of fresh raspberries on top of the pie and drizzled those with 2 squares of melted white chocolate. Whole family agreed that was even better than the strawberry version. Next time I’m going to try tweaking the proportions of the filling by using 1 1/2 blocks of cream cheese and 1/2 cup of whipping cream to try to get a denser, more cheesecake-like pie. While this recipe is tasty, it’s a little more fluffy than I prefer. Pretty good as is, though, and lots of room for experimentation.
This was really good – I made some changes – I omitted the crust. I spread the filling in a free-form circle on the platter. I used toffuti cream cheese to keep it dairy-free. I omitted the almonds and almond extract and I froze the filling. Right before serving I placed the sliced strawberries on top. It was really good. I did not have to let it thaw out before slicing.
I used a frozen pie crust on this – instead of making my own. It was SO GOOD. I could not find currant jelly, so I used peach instead (which I had on hand). I am sure that strawberry jelly would also have worked. This is definitely a pie to try – you won’t be disappointed!
Based on my own experience with this recipe and after reading reviews of others I can confidently say this is a PERFECT, delicious and show stopping pie if: you use a homemade pie crust–no store bought, no graham cracker and do use the almonds and almond extract, just as the recipe is written. However, I didn’t like the idea of chopped almonds mixed into the filling, so I toasted sliced almonds and covered the cool, baked crust with them before adding the filling. Most important,I found the currant jelly glaze a little thick and gloppy, so the next time I make this (and I know there will be MANY next times) I’ll thin the jelly out with a bit of water to make it more glaze-like and easier to spread.
goodgawsh, this is an incredible pie! I made THREE of these for a family get-together. (4x recipe) They were all gone the SAME EVENING. This is an excellent pie. Now, I am going to try to make it with splenda and see how that works…and oh yah a bran 1 crust instead.
this one’s a crowd pleaser!
Excellent reviews from my audience! Like most other reviews, if you use a store-bought crust, this pie is super easy to make!
the best strawberry cheese pie! Extremely easy to prepare…everyone loves it!
This was very good and I really like the flavor the almonds give to it. I took a shortcut and used a store-bought graham cracker crust, but I think it would have been better with the homemade crust called for. Otherwise I made it exactly as directed and it was delicious, but I wouldn’t call it “quick and easy” like some other reviewers. It actually took me a really long time to make, by the time I washed and cut all the berries, chopped the almonds, whipped the cream,etc. and it dirtied lots of bowls. But a nice result!
Wow! This was a winner. I used a grocery-store purchased glaze on the top, and it was a hit!
Very good. I didn’t have any almond extract or almonds and I think it would have been perfect if I had.