A little intro to recipes that I share because this is the first one.
I am not a trained Chef! 😁 Or any training really. I guess I'm a latch-key kid? My mom did the majority of the cooking and baking but sometimes we had to pop something in the oven to be ready for dinner. We have a very large extended family (both sides!) and my parents typically would host major holidays. If we were going somewhere, my mom always made sure to contribute.
Baking is much more my thing. Oddly enough, I'm into the whole health and wellness thing. I think this works in my favor. I know enough about ingredients to know what usually works together that I can alter a lot of recipes and still make them work. I can read recipe books like novels. Take this Strawberry Cream Pie. I read at least a dozen different recipes before I put this together. I will share exactly how I made it and tell you how you can change it up to fit your taste and maybe nutritional preferences.
The crust:
I did shortbread and pecan.
1C shortbread cookies (I used Lorna Dune, 4 packages) into a fine crumb
1C pecans, finely chopped
2T melted butter
2T monk fruit (this is found in the aisle with sugar and it does contain erythritol)
Mix all together. Press firmly into pie pan.
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
Let cool completely.
Options: If you do all cookie crumbs, I recommend more butter. 4T = 1/4 C. Nuts have fat in them, therefore, less butter is needed. You can try different cookies (ie graham crackers), different nuts (walnuts?), make a pastry crust or even go crustless and make just the filling. Also, you don't HAVE to bake a crumb crust.
Here's the beauty out of the oven:
Oh yeah, this is a regular pie plate... NOT a deep dish. I would say double the recipe for a deep dish. What do you think?
Here comes the filling:
1 - 8 oz neufchatel cheese
1/4C monk fruit
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 C strawberries mashed and drained (do not skip draining them; too much liquid = watery pie)
***
1C heavy whipping cream
1/4 C sugar
***
1/4C sliced strawberries
Use an electric mixer to cream together Neufchatel cheese and monk fruit. Add in vanilla and mashed, drained strawberries. Set aside.
In a different clean, chilled (if you're feeling wild) bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Once you hit this consistency... STOP. Don't over whip it because you'll end up with sweet butter.
Fold the whipped cream into the creamed mixture by hand. Fold in the sliced strawberries.
When everything is folded in together nicely, pour it into the prepared crust and smooth it out. Pop in the fridge for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.
Options: Cream cheese. Most recipes I read called for this, but I wanted to see if Neufchatel cheese would set up... and it did! Neufchatel has less saturated fat. Your call on this. I used monk fruit in my cheese/strawberry mixture. You could use sugar or whatever sweetener you choose. I did not replace the sugar in the whipping cream because I simply don't know if alternatives work and I didn't want to ruin it. If you know the answer, let me know! Confectioner sugar definitely works for whipped cream; I didn't have any on hand.
At this point, you can be totally done! I chose to add whipped cream on top. You can add meringue powder or cream of tarter to your whipped cream to make it last longer. You can also buy a can of whipped cream! I was thinking that this served with sliced strawberries would be nice too.
This has strawberries in it (duh). So I guess it doesn't really follow the keto diet? But you can make it pretty darn close keeping a nut crust and monk fruit (or something other than sugar). This is also a decent dessert option for diabetics and people who need to avoid gluten due to Celiac disease.
It does take a little bit of time to make and you need to give it time to chill and set up nicely. If I had a cookbook, I would include it! Yes, it is September and I did make this for National Strawberry Cream Pie day but it's a nice one to tuck away for strawberry season next year!
Let me know if you make it!
~ Dr. D.
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