PIES: Strawberry Super Pie

Haven't tried this yet, but I plan to soon. I'm reading a culinary mystery by Diane Mott Davidson called 'Dying for Chocolate' and this was one of the recipes in the book. Looks really delicious.

Strawberry Super Pie

Crust:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup chopped pecans
Topping:
2 pounds strawberries, divided
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Filling:

1 1/4 cups whipping cream
1/4 lb. cream cheese, softened
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 375. For crust, mix melted butter with flour, confec. sugar, and pecans. Press into a buttered 10-inch pie plate. Bake for 25 minutes or until light brown. Allow to cool completely.

Start topping by mashing enough strawberries to make 1 cup. Cut tops off rest of strawberries and set aside. Place mashed berries in a saucepan and add water. Mix sugar and cornstarch into crushed berry mixture and bring to a boil on top of stove, stirring. Boil about 1 minute or until clear and thickened.

Set aside to cool.

For filling, whip cream until stiff. In another bowl, beat cream cheese with vanilla and confec. sugar.

Carefully fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Spread in cooled crust and refrigerate.

When crushed berry mixture is cool, pie can be assembled. Stand whole (or halved, if you prefer) strawberries on top of cream filling, cut side down. When entire filling is covered with whole berries, carefully spoon cooled crushed berry mixture over all. Cream filling should not be seen between whole berries. Once the crevices have been filled, do not overload the pie with the crushed berry mixture, as it will just drip over the sides. Any leftover crushed berry mixture is delectable on toast or English muffins.

Makes 8-10 large servings