Dear Jeanne: If you can lower the fat and calorie count in this pie and manage to keep it from turning into soup, my family will be eternally grateful. My roommate in the early '60s shared this with me, and it is a wonderful celebration of the spring strawberry season. Please see what magic you can create. Many thanks! -- Betsy Davis, San Antonio
BELLE'S STRAWBERRY PIE
1/4 pound butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1 single pie crust shell, baked lightly
1 pint fresh strawberries, washed, tops removed and drained to dry
1. Preheat oven to 325 F. In top of double boiler, melt butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar; beat smooth.
2. Fill pie shell with strawberries. Pour above mixture over strawberries. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool on wire rack and then chill. Serve with whipped cream, if desired. Makes 8 servings.
Dear Betsy: Thank you for sharing your easy and delicious family favorite. I omitted the butter, used light cream cheese and substituted fat-free ricotta for some of the cream cheese. To further lower the calories, I decreased the powdered sugar. The egg helped to firm up the filling. Notice the oven temperature was increased to 350 F because the revised version takes longer to cook.
CELEBRATION STRAWBERRY PIE
1 egg
4 ounces light cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup fat-free ricotta
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 single pie crust shell, baked lightly
1 pint fresh strawberries, washed, tops removed and drained to dry
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Place egg, light cream cheese and ricotta in a blender container. Blend for several minutes until very smooth. Add powdered sugar and blend.
2. Fill pie shell with strawberries. Pour above mixture over strawberries. Bake for 1 hour or until center of pie does not jiggle. Cool on wire rack and then chill. Serve with light whipped topping, if desired. Makes 8 servings.
Each serving contains approximately: Original Recipe: 408 calories; 26 gm fat; 66 mg cholesterol; 262 mg sodium; 42 gm carbohydrates; 3 gm protein; 1 gm fiber. Revised Recipe: 221 calories; 8 gm fat; 39 mg cholesterol; 149 mg sodium; 35 gm carbohydrates; 3 gm protein; 1 gm fiber.
My potato recipes will help you stretch your food dollars with truly tasty dishes for every occasion. To order my booklet "Potatoes Are Not Fattening," send $3 and a stamped (55 cents), self-addressed, No. 10 envelope to Potatoes, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Jeanne Jones is a consultant on menu planning, recipes and new-product development for major hotels and spas. She also is the author of 32 cookbooks, most recently "Jeanne Jones' Homestyle Cooking Made Healthy" (Rodale Press, $27.95). Send your recipe for revision to: Cook It Light, (Deseret News), P.O. Box 1212, La Jolla, CA 92038. Please include a stamped (55 cents), self-addressed envelope. (C) King Features Syndicate Inc.