Mile-High Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

Mile- High Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

For the Glaze:

2  Tablespoons  Cornstarch

3  Tablespoons  Cold Water

1  Cup  Sugar

1  Cup  Water

1  Tablespoon  light Karo Syrup

1/2  teaspoon  Red Food Coloring (I use a tiny dab of gel food coloring--it goes further with less flavor)

3  Tablespoons  Strawberry Jello

For the Filling:

1  8-oz  Cream Cheese, softened

1  Cup  Powdered Sugar

1  teaspoon  Vanilla

1  8-oz  Whipped Topping

1  baked  Pie Crust (try Double-Crust Pie Shells or Big Batch Pie Crust)

2-3  pounds  Fresh Strawberries, gently washed and completely dried

In a small bowl, combine the Cornstarch and Cold Water, stirring to dissolve any lumps.  In a large saucepan, combine the Sugar, Water, Karo Syrup, and Food Coloring; bring to a rapid boil.  Re-stir the Cornstarch mixture; add to the boiling mixture and return to a hard boil.  Remove from heat and stir in Jello.  Cool to room temperature--don't rush it!  This is important!

Combine all Filling ingredients; spoon into baked Pie Crust.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

To Assemble:

Slice Strawberries into the Glaze, stirring well to completely coat the Strawberries with Glaze.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer Strawberries to prepared Pie Crust, heaping as high as possible.  Spoon remaining Glaze over berries as needed, but use caution not to overflow the edge of the pie plate.  You should have some Glaze left over.  Refrigerate until Glaze is set.  Serves 6-8.  Best used within six hours of making, as this can get runny.

"For, lo, the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of the singing of birds has come,

and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land."

Song of Solomon 2: 11 & 12

Spring is here!  That means it's time for yummy Strawberry Pie!  My husband always requests Strawberry Pizza at least once every springtime; this is my adaption of Strawberry Pizza to a Mile-High Strawberry Pie.  Please ignore the fact that my Pie isn't quite mile-high status--my children ate more berries than I realized before I made this, so it's just a Half-Mile-High Pie.

We've had a Dove nest in both our Lemon Tree and our Flowering Pomegranate Tree.  The children have had a lot of fun watching the Mama nest and the Eggs hatch into Babies.  It was especially exciting just before the Chicks hatched--the children loved to see the baby birds faintly through the shells.  And now the babies are learning to fly around the yard.  The boys have had fun practicing their photography skills on the Doves; I'm not certain what has happened to my photography 'skills,' though!  For the life of me I could not get the finished Pie to photograph right!  I'll just blame it on the cloudy day...

Adapted from Strawberry Pizza in Seasoned With Love, page 285.