Pie Number 14 - Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

The Year of Pie

Pie Number 14 - Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

    From Favorite Eastern Star Recipes - Old Family Favorites - Including Menus comes this yummy pie. A little history for you: the Order of the Eastern Star (OES) is a Masonic organization. It is a primarily a women's organization affiliated with the fraternal organization, the Freemasons. Male members of OES are required to be Freemasons.  There are no female Freemasons; female members of OES simply join the organization. I am a member of OES, but admittedly have not attended in decades. In the event that I ever decided to attend after moving several states away from where I grew up, my late father and now my step-mother, have kept up my dues all these years. 

    This recipe was submitted by Mrs. Amy Sanders, Secretary of Sylvan Hills OES, Chapter 602 in North Little Rock, Arkansas. While the flavor was somewhat similar to cheesecake, the texture was much lighter and creamier. Soooo good with the fresh strawberries I got a great deal on.  Sliced peaches or any kind of berry, would be good with the cream cheese base. This recipe uses a regular pastry crust, but it would be good also in a graham cracker crust. I really liked this pie and plan to make it again. 

Ingredients:

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 pint heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 9-inch baked pie crust

1 pint fresh sweetened strawberries or 1 10oz package frozen strawberries, thawed and drained (I actually used the bottom of the pie pan to measure my strawberries, by laying halved strawberries in the pan in a single layer, until the bottom was covered; it was perfect!

1 tablespoon sugar (maybe a little more) for sprinkling over strawberries (optional)

Directions:

Use your favorite pie crust recipe and bake pie shell according to directions. Cool your crust. Wash, stem and slice strawberries in half. In a bowl, whip cream cheese with powdered sugar. In a separate bowl, whip cream until thickened (go for those stiff peaks) and add vanilla. Fold the cream and vanilla mixture into the cream cheese mixture (The original directions say to fold in the cream cheese mixture, but I did the opposite and folded the cream and vanilla into the cream cheese mixture. It worked just fine.). Scoop your filling into your cooled pie shell and cover with strawberries or other fruit. Sprinkle sugar lightly over berries. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve. Serves 8. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

Strawberry Tapioca Pudding

 Strawberry Tapioca Pudding

    Today was the 31st anniversary of my mother's death. It's a difficult day and New Year's Eve has never been the same.  I've celebrated my mother (and my father also on 12/23) on the anniversary of their deaths, in my own way. I take off work and on my mom's day, I normally watch sad movies like Beaches and The Joy Luck Club today and although I could not find my copy of Beaches, I just finished watching The Joy Luck Club. I feel like I have such a connection to Joy Luck Club, because it's about the mothers (and daughters) and their hopes and dreams for them. I never got to find out what my mom wanted for me, so it just hits home, because I'm sure my mom would have wanted the same things for me that the Joy Luck Club mothers wanted for their daughters. 

    I also make foods that they liked. For my mom, that is always her version of pork chops, which I've written about here before. This post isn't about the pork chops; you can go back through my posts and read about them, but just know I love them. Total comfort food for me.  

    This post is about a dessert my late father would make for my mom. Strawberry Tapioca Pudding. I don't remember how often we had it, but my mom was diabetic and she wasn't supposed to have many desserts. While overall she watched what she ate, she also wanted to enjoy life (writing that just made me smile) and would enjoy a dessert from time to time. This is the first time I've made the tapioca pudding.  I like strawberries, but I think I would like the pudding plain.  Strawberry Tapioca was what she liked, so that's what I made.

Feel free to try this recipe based on the Tapioca Cream recipe in one of my favorite and "go to" cookbooks in my collection. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook published in 1990. This cookbook was originally published in 1896 under the name The Boston Cooking School Cook Book by you guessed it, Fannie Farmer.`

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca

1/8 teaspoon salt (I accidentally used 1/4 teaspoon and it turned out fine)

5 tablespoons sugar (divided)

2 cups milk

2 eggs, separated

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sliced fresh or frozen and thawed strawberries (Just use as many as you want to use)

Red food coloring

Directions:

Mix 3 tablespoons of the sugar, the salt, and the tapioca in (the recipe says) a heavy-bottom pot. Slightly beat the egg yolks and add with milk to the dry ingredients. Let stand for 5 minutes. The recipe says to cook for about 6 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a full boil. For me, because I hadn't heated the milk before hand (I believe that would have been helpful), it took way longer to boil. It was at list 10 minutes. After my 6 minute timer went off, I didn't really time it. Anyways, when the mixture boils, remove from heat. Beat your egg whites which you've had set to the side, until foamy and slowly add the last 2 tablespoons of sugar. (The directions say to beat until stiff, but not dry. I don't really know what that meant and mine never made peaks. I just beat the whites on high with my hand mixer, until I felt comfortable with how it looked.) Stir your egg whites into the hot tapioca. Add the vanilla and a few drops of red food coloring. Blend well. Mix in your strawberries and serve warm or cold with a dollop of whipped cream if desired. 

   It was easy to make and  I really enjoyed it. So, if you make this, let me know what you think. 

Strawberry Tapioca Pudding

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!