Raspberry Cream Pie

With Stephanie Smith

When it is time to start expanding your repertoire of summer desserts, you should include some like this pie that require no baking and use ingredients available in the summer such as fresh raspberries.

This is one of Stephanie Smith’s favorites because she likes to entertain all summer and this no bake dessert that uses readily available ingredients to make a cool and refreshing pie is a perfect solution. The season for locally grown raspberries in New England is July through September and Mid-June through October in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Red raspberries are readily adaptable throughout New England, but black and purple raspberries and blackberries lack the hardiness to be grown north of southern Maine and New Hampshire. When at the market, look for fruits that are plump, dry and firm. Raspberries can be found in a variety of colors including red, black, yellow, and purple.

Do not rinse raspberries until they are ready to be used. Pre-washing causes them to mold and rot more quickly. They are best fresh picked at room temperature but can be stored briefly in the refrigerator placed in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days. Raspberries can be frozen plain or in sugar or syrup. Once frozen, berries can be stored for up to one year.

The first thing you need to do is make the crust using vanilla wafers. The easiest way to prepare them is to put them in a food processor, but you could crush them in a plastic bag using a rolling pin. She likes to mix in some pecans for added flavor. A little butter serves as a binding agent. Put the crust together in a pie pan using a plastic baggie so the mixture does not stick to your hands.

The filling is made up of cream cheese, whipped cream and confectioner’s sugar, with some Orange liquor and vanilla extract for enhanced flavor. After putting the filling into the pie shell refrigerate.

The topping is made by heating sugar, cornstarch, raspberries and a little waterb in a small pan until everything is melted.

Serve the chilled pie with fresh raspberries or other berries on top.

Ingredients

For the crust:
1 ½ cups crushed vanilla wafers (about 45 cookies)
1/3 cup chopped pecans
¼ melted butter

For the filling:
1 package 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons Orange liqueur
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whipping cream

For the topping:
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons water
2 ½ cups fresh or frozen raspberries divided

Instructions

For the crust:
1. Combine wafer crumbs, pecans and butter.  Press onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9” pie plate.

For the filling:
1. In a large bowl beat cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar, liqueur and vanilla until light and fluffy. Fold in whipped cream. Spread into piecrust. Refrigerate until chilled.

For the topping:
1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch; stir in water and 1 ½ cups raspberries.  Bring to boil.  Cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes, until thickened.  Transfer to a bowl. Refrigerate and chill.

Spread topping over filling. Garnish with remaining berries.

Recipe courtesy of Stephanie Smith, Changing Tides Gift Shop, ACE Hardware, 2011.

Stephanie grew up in Connecticut as a latch key kid of two full time working parents.  When she got home from school she would do experiments in the kitchen with whatever ingredients she could reach. 

“I remember one day after school looking for the peanut butter for a snack, when I could not find it, I decided to make my own.  I got out some butter and some peanuts, put them all into a baggy and rolled it out with a rolling pin.  Hey, how was I supposed to know, at age 6, that peanut butter has no butter!  It didn’t look quite right, and tasted different, but as I recall, it wasn’t half bad.”

Stephanie was in 3rd grade when she decided to make cupcakes for her mom’s birthday.  No recipe of course.  She had watched her mom and grandmother bake, so she knew you needed flour, sugar, eggs and vanilla.  She cannot remember what else she found to dump in, but does remember that they resembled hockey pucks!  Her mom smiled, took a bite, and said how thoughtful she was.  They next day when they were gone, her dad said he’d eaten them all.  She is sure they ended up in the town dump. 

She says that her cooking has improved since then, but has remained a fun and creative outlet for her.  When she was just out of college and teaching in Boston, living on a teacher’s salary was not enough, so she began working for a catering company in Charlestown.  She also started cooking for friend’s dinners and cocktail parties out of her small apartment kitchen in Boston.  The next thing she knew she had trays of food spread into the living room, kitchen and anywhere there was a spot.  Her roommates would take off the minute they saw the grocery bags come in. 

Since she moved to Rockport and married her husband Jay, she has catered many dinners for the masons, catered many events for the family businesses and staff events, catered friends showers and events and entertained many friends. She reads cookbooks for fun, while others read novels.  She is a self-taught cook but experimenting, practicing and of course eating has taught her well.  She is not afraid of flavor and thinks her food reflects that. She loves to see what she can do to improve or embellish other’s recipes.   “It’s fun, enjoyable and makes people happy!”

She also loves to knit, scrap book and is a potter with a wonderful studio.  However, she says that she has no time, unfortunately, for any of those things.  The way I get to be creative is in her kitchen.  She always makes time to cook for her children, family and friends.  After all, to Stephanie, “food is love!”