I love strawberries. Not quite as much as I love raspberries, but still. I love this time of year, because the grocery store here keeps the strawberries right by the door, so every time I go in there, I'm overwhelmed with the awesome strawberry smell. You know what I mean.
A friend at work found this recipe for me, and I knew as soon as I saw it that I would be making a trip to the store for strawberries. It seems to me that this is modeled on Bob Evans strawberry pie, which is quite possibly my favorite strawberry pie ever, so I knew I had to try this.
It turned out....okay. It wasn't the best thing I've ever put in my mouth, but it's far from the worst. I will probably make them again, but not this summer, and I'll do some things differently next time.
Ingredients Needed:
For Crust
1 pouch(1 lb 1.5 oz) sugar cookie mix.
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
For Filling
1 cup white vanilla baking chips
1 8 oz package cream cheese
Topping
4 cups fresh sliced strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/3 cup water
10-12 drops red food coloring(if desired)
To make:
Preheat oven to 350. Spray bottom of a 13x9 pan with non stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, prepare cookie mix as directed with butter and egg. Press the dough evenly in the bottom of pan. Bake 15-20 minutes until light golden brown. Cool completely(about 30-60 minutes)
Once cookie is cool, in a small microwavable bowl, melt the baking chips uncovered on high for about 60 seconds, until they are melted and can be stirred smooth. In a medium mixing bowl beat cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth. Stir in the melted chips, and beat until well blended. Spread the mixture over cookie crust, and refrigerate while making topping. To make the topping, in a small bowl crush 1 cup of the strawberries. In a medium saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the crushed strawberries and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture boils. Stir in the food coloring, and then cool 10 minutes. Stir in remaining sliced strawberries. Pour the topping over the filling, and smooth out. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.
So...here's what I would do differently. The crust was very thick, and hard to cut. I would either bake the cookies until they're not quite done, or use only half the dough.
We had a ton of desserts for easter this year. Here they all are, lined up all nice. My strawberry squares, bunny cakes from the bakery, my brother-in-law's coconut cake(which I didn't get any of, because I was so full) and lemon meringue pie. So good.
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