Foodie Fridays: Black Raspberry Cream Pie

From Hostess with the Mostess

Black Raspberry Cream Pie is one of the easiest pie recipes you will ever make, and one of the tastiest. The recipe I found called for a graham cracker crust, but I used a pastry crust instead since I happened to have some frozen ones.  (If you would rather use the graham crackers, I have included the crust recipe as well.)  Substitute any spreadable fruit for the black raspberry if you prefer a different flavor.  This pie is a great warm weather dessert, and since our temperatures have been hovering around 90 degrees lately the recipe was quite the fortuitous find!

Black Raspberry Cream Pie

1 C. whipping cream
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 jar (10 oz.) seedless black raspberry spreadable fruit (I used Smucker's)
1 9-inch deep-dish pastry shell, baked

In a medium bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.  In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Add the spreadable fruit and beat until thoroughly combined.  Gently fold in the whipped cream with a large mixing spoon or spatula.  Spoon the mixture into the baked pastry shell.  Cover and freeze the pie for 4-24 hours until firm.  Just before serving, garnish the pie with berries, lemon twists, and/or mint leaves, if desired.  Serves 8.

Note: If you prefer a graham cracker crust, just combine 1/3 C. melted butter, 1/4 C. sugar, and 1 1/4 C. finely crushed graham cracker crumbs (one packet of 9 rectangular graham cracker sheets should yield this amount).  Lightly spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray, then fill with the crumb mixture and press the mixture evenly over the bottom and sides of the pie plate.  Bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.  After freezing the pie, place the pie plate on a warm, damp cloth and let stand for 5 minutes before cutting to loosen the crust from the bottom of the plate.  Some recipes suggest brushing the graham cracker crust with a beaten egg white before baking (possibly to keep the crumbs in place when spreading the filling?), but the version I used did not mention this.  I think that this step may be intended for store-bought graham cracker crusts, so if you choose one of these you may want to use the egg white.