Photo: Natalie Levin
I absolutely love strawberry season! It’s the most delicious fruit – so fresh, sweet and beautiful. Strawberries are a great addition to desserts and cakes, and I love creating strawberry recipes.
This strawberry cream cheese pie is easy and delicious. It’s made of a short crust pastry filled with cream cheese and topped with beautiful strawberries arranged in a fan. To make it shine and even more pretty – I glaze it with a little strawberry jam, and this strawberry cream cheese pie is definitely an eye catcher!
Photo: Natalie Levin
Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
For the crust:
- 120 grams (1 stick) cold butter cut into cubes
- 180 grams (1 1/4 cup) all-purpose flour
- 40 grams (4 tbsp.) sugar powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tbsp. milk (as needed)
Cream cheese filling:
- 225 grams (1 pack) cream cheese at room temperature
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 70 grams (7 tbsp.) sugar powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 250 ml. (1 cup) cold whipping cream
- Sliced strawberries for decoration
For glazing:
- 2-3 tbsp. smooth strawberry jam
- 2-3 tbsp. boiling water
- Crust: in a food processor with a steel blade put flour, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt and process until mixture is crumbly.
- Add egg yolk continue to blend just until large clumps of dough form. If needed, add a little milk gradually.
- Transfer the dough chunks on a lightly floured work surface and form a disc-shape with your hands.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.
- Roll out the dough on a floured work surface about 3-4 mm thick and line the pie pan. It is important to create a right angle between the sides and the base of the crust, which will ensure the edges remain high when baking.
- Pierce the bottom of the crust with a fork. Freeze the crust for about an hour.
- Preheat oven to 175c degrees.
- Blind baking: put a sheet of heat-resistant plastic wrap or baking paper on the frozen crust and fill with dry beans or special weights for baking.
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes.
- Remove the weights and the plastic wrap and continue to bake the crust for about 12-20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool at room temperature.
- Cream cheese filling: in a bowl of a mixer whip cream cheese, lemon zest, sugar powder and vanilla until smooth.
- Add in the cream in a thin stream while whipping until stable cream is formed.
- Pour the cream over the crust and flatten the top.
- Arrange strawberry slices overlapping on top of the cream.
- Mix strawberry jam and boiling water and gently brush the strawberries.
- Keep the pie in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
- You can use raspberries or cherries instead of strawberries.
Photo: Natalie Levin
Photo: Natalie Levin
Photo: Natalie Levin
Photo: Natalie Levin