-- Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie ^ ^" --

----- I was looking all over for a recipe. It was one my sister called
"Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie". It was pretty fancy for her style. I used to know it by heart. We always found it easy, and a bit elegant. I really love strawberry, but you can't tell that it's the fruit being used. You could easily substitute blueberry or banana or anything else.

----- This time, I will bake it by myself. I knew enough to buy what I needed at the grocery store, but still, what a dummy! I was worried I could not make it correctly. I was getting perplexedly and a recipe was not helping very much. Choose strawberries that not only look luscious, dark red and juicy but ones that have a mouth watering smell as well. Strawberries will continue to ripen after picking but they won’t continue to sweeten so sniff the berries for that ripe sweet aroma.

----- Here is one of my favorite recipes. It was a lovely dessert. It’s simple and delicious, a perfect recipe for a casual cook. A great recipe is a great recipe no matter how hard it is.

INGREDIENTS

· 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 4 tablespoons shortening
· 2 tablespoons butter
· 3 tablespoons cold water
· 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
· 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
· 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
· 1/4 cup chopped almonds
· 4 cups fresh strawberries, halved
· 1/4 cup jelly

DIRECTIONS

---1. 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.
---2. 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.
---3. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool to room temperature.
---4. 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.
---5. 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.

---- P.S. ---- Not only are strawberries delicious but they’re good for you. Eating 8 strawberries can give you 160 % of your daily requirement of vitamin C and eating 8 strawberries is pretty darned easy to do. They also contain lots of vitamin A and B6 and contain only 50 calories per cup. That’s of course before you add gobs of sugar and mounds of whipped cream. So indulge yourself.