Strawberries, almonds and cream cheese are common ingredients at Eastern European tables. They blend together well in this recipe with an unusual almond-filled crust, a recipe printed with permission from Love'n Bake. I've used a cheesecake filling and I don't see why substituting a different nut paste for the almond wouldn't work just as well.
Makes 8 to 10 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- Crust:
- 1 recipe double-crust pie dough (see below)
- 1/2 cup almond schmear or almond paste
- .
- Filling:
- 1 (8-ounce) cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Dash cinnamon
- .
- Topping:
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- .
- Garnish:
- Sliced strawberries
- Currant jelly or seedless strawberry jam, melted
Preparation:
- Prepare pie dough as directed. Let it rest 30 minutes. Divide in half and, on a lightly floured surface, roll each piece into an 11-inch circle. Spread almond schmear or almond paste on top of one circle. Place the other circle of dough on the almond paste circle, pressing together. Fit into a 9-inch pie pan, flute the edges and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Blend cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg, salt and cinnamon and beat until light and fluffy. Transfer to prepared pie pan and bake 40 minutes or until no longer jiggly in the center. Remove from oven and cool completely.
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine sour cream, sugar and vanilla until well combined and spread evenly over pie. Bake 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
- Dip whole or sliced strawberries in melted jelly or jam and arrange decoratively on top of the pie. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Refrigerate any leftovers.
