Easy Strawberry Cream Pie

Here is another recipe from our 4th of July party.  It really does live up to it’s name as in EASY!  It is a very pretty pie and makes a great presentation!  This would be great for any summer gathering!

This recipe is adapted from Chef in Training

EASY STRAWBERRY CREAM PIE

1 cooked pie crust-(can use store bought or my recipe below)

1 cup heavy whipping cream -I used regular whipping cream

8 oz. cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

18-20 strawberries, cut in half

1/2 cup chocolate chips or chocolate melts

1 Tablespoon shortening

Beat cream until stiff peaks form.  In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add in sugar and vanilla.  Fold cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream until evenly combined.  Spoon into cooled pie crust.  Arrange strawberries over the top of the filling.   Melt 1 tablespoon shortening and 1/2 cup chocolate in a Ziplock bag in the microwave for 1 minute at 50 percent power.  Squish the bag around and microwave for an additional 30 seconds at 50 percent power.  Squish again until all the chocolate is melted and smooth.(Do you like my technical terms?)  Then snip off a very small corner of the bag and pipe the chocolate onto the pie!  (Throw the Ziplock bag away and you have no mess!)  Refrigerate.

This pie is as pretty as it is Yummy!

Here is the recipe for my pie crust.  This is a recipe that I have been using for years and it really is a NEVER-FAIL recipe.  It is so flaky and easy to work with that you will never want to try another recipe.  This comes from one of those old ward cookbooks and this particular book was published in1984!  So I would have to say that this recipe has really withstood the test of time!

 NEVER-FAIL PIE CRUST

4 cups flour

1 3/4 cup shortening

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 egg

1 tablespoon vinegar

1/2 cup cold water

Mix flour, salt and sugar together in a bowl.  Beat egg, vinegar and water in another small bowl until thoroughly blended.  Cut shortening into dry ingredients until it is the size of peas.  Sprinkle egg mixture over it, a tablespoon at a time, tossing and stirring lightly with a fork.  Mix until dough is just moist enough to hold together.

Form ball.  Let stand for 15 minutes.  Divide ball into fourths and roll dough out out on a floured surface and put in pie tins.  Flute edges and pierce pie shell with fork.  Bake shells 8-10 minutes at 450 degrees F.  If making a 2 crust pie, bake according to pie directions.

Makes 4 shells or 2 double crust pies.

If you have never made a pie crust before, you really should try this recipe.  I don’t really remember a time that it did not turn out good!  One rule of thumb when working with pie crust and that is that you do not want to overwork the dough.  Handle it as little as possible and make sure when you are adding the egg mixture that you mix in enough for the dough to hold together.

Good luck in your pie making!  This is one recipe that you need to try even if you are a beginner cook!

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