Blueberry-Yogurt Cheese Pie

Do you like cheesecake? Do you like cheesecake with blueberry topping? Do you like the caloric bomb that (really good) cheesecake drops on your diet?



If you answered, like me, 'yes', 'yes', and 'not really' to the above, you simply must try this pie. The recipe has a lot of steps, and you need to be sure to start this at least the day before you serve, but it's not really as complicated as it seems.

Crust: Prebake a graham cracker crust in a 9-inch pie plate.

Cheese Layer: Drain 32 ounces of the best plain yogurt you can find (full-fat is recommended - I used Stonyfield Farm's Whole Milk Yogurt) for at least 12 hours. Line a colander with cheesecloth, dump in the yogurt, set it over a bowl, and stick it in the back of your fridge.

Berry Layer: Combine 3¹⁄₂ cups IQF blueberries, ¹⁄₈ cup orange juice, and ¹⁄₃ cup white sugar and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes, until the berries have released a good bit of juice.

In a small bowl, stir together another ¹⁄₈ cup orange juice, 2 tablespoons of white sugar, and 1¹⁄₂ tablespoons of cornstarch until dissolved; stir into berries and bring to a boil until thickened (about 90 seconds). Remove from  heat and stir in 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice.

Turn out berry mixture into a wide container (a spare pie plate worked well for me), cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Assembly: Transfer drained yogurt to a medium bowl and stir in ¹⁄₃ cup powdered sugar and ¹⁄₄ teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. Spoon sweetened yogurt cheese into the chilled pie shell, smoothing it over the bottom and up the sides. Spoon the chilled blueberry mixture over the yogurt and smooth out the top of the pie. Garnish with a dollop of the extra yogurt and long threads of lemon zest (if you're into that sort of thing). Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

-adapted from Pie by Ken Haedrich

Let me just say that after two months of pies that ranged from white to cream to light yellow, working with blueberries was refreshing visually.They stained my wooden spoon, but to tell the truth, I wouldn't mind dyeing the rest of the spoon that color!

As I started out suggesting, this pie is reminiscent of cheesecake, only lighter. The tang of the yogurt stands in well for cream cheese, and the sweetness of the berries is sufficient to carry the entire show.

This is how your yogurt cheese should look

I will caution you that this pie does not keep - and I'm not just being euphemistic here. I brought the pie together for a Sunday morning potluck, so it was assembled and ready to go Saturday night and stored in the fridge. The graham crust tends to get soggy and weepy after just hours, and the whole thing slumps into a glorious mess. I might try it again with a short stint in the freezer before serving to see if it holds up better and slices more cleanly.

That said, don't be afraid to scoop out a portion with a spoon - it still tastes wonderful even if it's not the prettiest thing on the plate. And the taste is what counts in the end, right?

Some of the last bits. This is how it's supposed to look.

Vanilla Cream Pie

They don't come much simpler or more basic than this. Vanilla cream/thickpudding, graham cracker crust, and sweetened whipped cream on top.

Ken Haedrich describes Vanilla Cream Pie thusly:

"A monument to solid, uncomplicated, middle-American cuisine, this pie should be in every cook's repertoire."

Really, the hardest part of this pie (aside from the hours of waiting for things to cool down) was assembling the crust. This was my first press-in crumb crust - crushed graham crackers, cinnamon(!), and melted butter. It came out fine, but it was frustrating to attempt an even coverage. The crust ended up being a bit thick in the corners. No matter, because the taste and texture were great.

I might think about using a store-bought graham cracker crust next time, although Tiffany commented that the uneven coarseness of my crushed crackers (no food processor here) was a positive, and I love the the cinnamon flavor in the crust.

The filling is very simple to make - everything gets combined on top of the stove until thick. Keep a close eye on it, though; the cream goes from milky to appropriately stiff in a wink.

Be sure to chill this pie thoroughly - cold shell, cold filling, cold whipped cream - before serving. Skip this and chance a soupy slice.

The taste of this pie is very light, dare I say, ethereal. The calories, however, are not. I will try this pie again without the whipped cream - maybe a honey-cinnamon meringue instead? - to lighten up the caloric impact some. This is definitely a pie I want to play around with, substituting more healthy (although it's still pie - perhaps "less unhealthy" is more appropriate) ingredients and see what I get.

As a side note, the first slice I had was about ¹⁄₁₂ of the pie and was almost enough. I had an eighth of the pie the next day, and it was almost too much (and left a greasy feel on my lips, probably from the whipped cream topping). I'd try tenths next time, though good luck getting even slices.

Two other notes, both of which result from my failure to read the recipe closely enough. First, the original recipe calls for the use of a 9¹⁄₂-inch pan; I plunged ahead with my standard 9-inch and everything worked out just fine. Second, I forgot to dust nutmeg over the top of the finished pie! I love nutmeg and regret not adding it. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make it again!

Cinnamon Graham Crust

This one's too good not to share.

The first section of recipes in Pie is nothing but crusts - something like 30 different recipes for pastry crusts, crumb crusts, nut crusts, and even a meringue crust. One of the basic non-pastry crusts is a graham cracker crust, which I used under the Vanilla Cream Pie. At that time, I noted that the crust is bit tricky to assemble, but the flavor is great.

1¾ cups graham cracker crumbs (10-12 full size crackers)

2 Tbs brown sugar

½ tsp cinnamon (or more - I just shook some in)
pinch of salt
6 Tbs butter, melted (if using salted butter, omit the pinch of salt)

Combine dry ingredients, add melted butter, and incorporate well to form evenly dampened crumbs. Press (as evenly as possible) into a lightly buttered pie plate, using the back of a spoon to tamp down the crumbs. Refrigerate for 10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 350°. Bake the crust for 7 minutes, then cool completely before filling.

Two notable changes from the standard graham cracker crust are the brown sugar and cinnamon. I loved the cinnamon flavor, and Tiffany picked out honey highlights, which is probably attributable to the brown sugar.

 

Haedrich includes a variation on this - swapping out Nilla wafers for the graham crackers. Add 2 tablespoons of flour to the dry ingredients, and drizzle in 1-2 teaspoons of water when blending to help things hold together. I imagine this variation would go well with a banana cream pie.