We managed to hit the raspberry patch one more time this season. Last week it popped up in my Facebook feed that Wednesday morning was going to be the end of raspberry season. The kids had a dance class later in the morning, so we set out to pick one more round of berries. After the first round, it became very clear to us that my 9 little jars of jam were not going to be enough for our family. We’d already emptied 2 of those, so we needed another batch.
I promised the kids that I would make one more batch of jam only, and the rest could be eaten fresh out of hand. (Plus one batch of raspberry pancakes.) The only trouble with that was that these end of season berries were quite soft- it didn’t take much for them to turn to mush, and in the end, I had a pile of berries that needed to be used in a sauce-like application.
As it happened, I was sitting down one night flipping through a recent cookbook aquisition, Taste of Home Winning Recipes, and found a recipe for Raspberry Cream Pie. Wow, did it look delicious, and even better, it looked really simple. A quick glance at the recipe, and the only ingredient I really needed was the cream cheese in the filling. The crust called for vanilla wafer cookies and nuts, and I decided that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to simply substitute a pre-made Nilla Wafer pie crust.
The hardest part of this pie was whipping the cream. Really. I made one other change, and that was that I didn’t use the orange liqueur called for. Somewhere in the garage there is a box that contains such things, but we haven’t encountered them yet, and I wasn’t about to buy a bottle for s small splash. So instead I added a splash of Torani orange syrup that I’d bought for adding to iced coffee. It added a hint of orange color and a hint of orange flavor, and this pie was a great hit.
It was so good, it may go on the list as a contender for Thanksgiving Pie Hour.
Alas, my picture that I have to share is a terrible one. My camera has been acting up lately, and the good photo I took somehow was in an “unidentifiable format”, so I had to delete that one and the only one left was the one I took with the flash. And of course, there is no pie left to try a better shot. I do have extra filling, which I’ve decided would make a great fruit dip, so I’m got my eye out for a fresh pineapple- which would be amazing with the lightly orangey flavored filling.
Raspberry Cream Pie
1 1/2 cups crushed vanilla wafers 1/3 cup chopped pecans 1/4 cup butter, melted Filling: 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar 2 tablespoons orange liqueur 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped Topping: 1 cup sugar 3 tablespoons cornstarch 3 tablespoons water 2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries, dividedDirections:
Combine the wafer crumbs, pecans and butter. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, liqueur and vanilla until light and fluffy. Fold in whipped cream. Spread into crust, chill until serving.
In a small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch; stir in water and 1 1/2 cups raspberries. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until chilled.
Spread the chilled topping over the filling. Garnish with remaining cup of berries.