Fresh Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie

This pie is a combination of two pies I love—one my mother makes that I love with the fresh blueberries and cream cheese, and the other has a cooked component with fresh berries added towards the end. This combination is killer!

We got our CSA box this past Wednesday and it was filled so full I knew I had to get cooking. I ended up blanching a pile of veggies and freezing them knowing Bill and I couldn't eat all of them by the time the next delivery was made. The blueberries in the box were the sweetest and most flavorful berries we'd ever tasted. WOW! I knew I wanted to make a pie that took advantage of how great these fresh berries were. This is the result. 

Try it! It is so super simple to do and requires very little stove/oven time!



Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cold water

5 cups fresh blueberries, divided

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1- 8oz Philly cream cheese or lite cream cheese (softened/room temp)

1 deep dish pastry shell (9 inches), baked


Step 1.  Bake off a deep dish pie shell. You can make your favorite dough recipe or do like I always do and buy a Pillsbury roll out shell, form it into a deep dish pie plate and bake according to package directions. Don't forget the pie weights to prevent it from bubbling up. And be sure to prick the bottom and sides with a fork!

Step 2.  Combine sugar, salt, cornstarch and water in a medium sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until there are no lumps and mixture is smooth. Use a whisk here.

Step 3.  Add half of the fresh blueberries to the sauce pan, bring to a boil.

Step 4.  Stir mixture and allow to boil just until mixture is nice and thick and bubbly... about 2 minutes.

Step 5.  Remove mixture from the heat and add butter, lemon juice, vanilla and remaining fresh berries and mix to coat fresh berries with cooked berries. Be sure butter is melted. Allow this mixture to cool.


Step 6.  While berries are cooling, spread cream cheese carefully over bottom of cooled pie crust. Don't be too aggressive here or you'll ruin your crust. it may even help to put cream cheese in the microwave for a few seconds to make it really soft and spreadable. (BE SURE TO REMOVE FROM FOIL PACKAGING BEFORE MICROWAVING!)

Step 7.  Once berry mixture is cooled a bit, pour into pie shell over cream cheese layer. AND... you're done! Put the pie into the fridge for a while and serve chilled. ENJOY!

Step 8.  EAT THIS GORGEOUS THING AND ENJOY! :) Our dinner guests loved this, as did we.