Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
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A simple homemade strawberry cream cheese pie made with an easy graham cracker crust, a sweet cream cheese layer, and topped with fresh strawberries. This pie uses no Jello, gelatin, or artificial add-ins, and a quick strawberry sauce serves as a sweet glaze for the berries.
When it comes to sweets, it’s pretty well-known in my household that I have a complete and utter lack of restraint. Cookies, cakes, and pies (particularly strawberry cream cheese pies) need to be removed from the premises posthaste, or else it’s just a matter of time before I no longer fit through our doorways. Zach must take care to monitor the ice cream in our freezer closely, otherwise I’ll whittle it down to nothing, one sneaking spoonful at a time (he’s actually really bad at this, there’s a carton of ice cream in our freezer with a single spoonful of chocolate ice cream left because I’ve eaten nearly all of it).
But my inability to control myself is possibly most evident during strawberry picking season.
Because when it comes to strawberry picking, I just cannot stop myself. I will pick, and pick, and pick (and maybe sample a few, for, you know, quality control) until my arms are aching from the weight of my berries. Zach and I brought home more berries than two people can be realistically expected to eat in a year, but within a week we’d worked our way through all of them — mostly courtesy of this Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie.
Strawberry picking is a tradition with Zach’s family that I’m grateful to have been absorbed into, and each year for the past three years I’ve shared a strawberry dessert with you. First it was my Strawberries & cream daiquiris (I know, the photos could use a re-shoot), my homemade strawberry pop-tarts last year, and now this strawberry cream cheese pie.
Originally this year’s recipe was going to just be a plain Strawberry Pie, but when Zach’s mom mentioned that she’d had one before with a layer of cream cheese, I made the quick decision to re-route, and a fluffy layer of whipped cream cheese filling was the first thing to go into my homemade graham cracker crust.
It’s just four ingredients, and actually served as the inspiration for my no-bake cheesecake, which I shared with you last week.
We are using no Jello or gelatin in this strawberry cream cheese pie — no artificial flavors, just the pure juicy taste of fresh berries. However, that means that we have to get to work making a simple strawberry sauce, and while this pie is no-bake, you will have to whip out a saucepan for that — don’t worry, it will only take a few minutes.
We’re going to cook the berries with some sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch (a thickener), releasing the fresh juice of the berries and reducing the amount of liquid for a strawberry sauce that we will toss even more fresh strawberries into. Allow it to cool completely (once it’s finished cooking I usually pour the jam into a new heatproof container, that seems to speed up the process a bit since you don’t have to wait for the pan to come back down to temperature) and then stir in your berries.
And that’s it!
Super simple, isn’t it?
Enjoy!
I used some of these strawberries to make a strawberry icebox cheesecake, that I shared over on TheSpruce.com, make sure you check that out, too! 🙂
Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
Ingredients
- 1 9-10" graham cracker crust, prepared and baked (click on link)
Strawberry topping
- 5-6 cups (840 g) quartered strawberries, stems removed, divided
- ½ cup (100 g) sugar
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
Cream Cheese Layer
- 8 oz (225 g) cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup (65 g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (235 ml) heavy cream
Instructions
- In small saucepan, combine 2 cups (280g) strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice over medium-low heat.½ cup (100 g) sugar, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- Stir frequently until strawberries release their juices.
- Use a potato masher to crush the strawberries until mostly liquid (it's fine if small pieces are remaining).
- Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Boil (still stirring constantly) for 1 minutes and remove from heat, place in new heat proof container to cool faster. Set aside while you prepare your cream cheese layer
- In a medium-sized bowl, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until combined.8 oz (225 g) cream cheese, ½ cup (65 g) powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate, clean bowl, beat 1 cup heavy cream to stiff peaks1 cup (235 ml) heavy cream
- Fold into cream cheese mixture -- the resulting mixture will be thick and fluffy.
- Spread evenly into prepared graham cracker crust and place in refrigerator while your strawberry mixture continues to cool.1 9-10" graham cracker crust
- Once strawberry mixture has cooled completely, add the remaining srawberries and stir well.
- Pour over cream cheese layer, piling/mounding strawberries towards the center.
- Return to refrigerator and allow to set at least 4 hours (preferably overnight) before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Could you use whole frozen strawberries ?
Hi Donise! I think that could work. 🙂
Hi , there’s a discrepancy in instructions step 1: 2 cups strawberries and then in that same step it says 5-6 cups.
Hi Anna! I’m sorry for the confusion! You will only use 2 cups in the first step and stir in the remaining in step 10. 🙂
Could you do the same recipe with fresh blueberries
Hi Shelley! I actually have a blueberry cream cheese pie recipe. 🙂
can I use cool whip in place of real whipped cream?
Hi Gerry! I think it could potentially work, but the flavor will be changed and your filling may be a little softer.
Will this be ok to make one day ahead and store in the fridge? I tasted the strawberry mixture – it’s delicious.
Sure thing! 🙂
This pie was SO delicious and easy to make. My family loved it! Makes 8 generous servings which can easily be stretched out to 10-12 after a big Memorial Day potluck.
I’m so glad it was such a hit, Sharon! 🙂
Can this be made in a 9×13 dish if I double the ingredients? I enjoy your recipes and have made several. Thank you.
Hi Sharon! I think that could work. Thank you for your support and trust in my recipes. 🙂
This pie is amazing! I love the combination of sweetness and the tartness from the lemon juice. The filling is so creamy and not too cream cheesy tasting. I cooked the crust about 14 or 15 minutes and it was perfect. This will be one of my favorites.
I started the recipe and realized I didn’t have much time so I asked my 16-year-old son to finish it starting at the point of preparing the cream cheese filling. It was delicious and of course he took credit for the entire thing!
🤣 We’re so happy you enjoyed it, Erica!
Absolutely Delicious…..My son’s new favorite dessert!
This recipe is a harbinger of Spring! Delicious sweet/tart, ruby red strawberries laid atop a sweet, creamy base which tops a lightly sweet Graham cracker crust! The only change I made was to bake the crust for 12 to 15 minutes which gives it more crunch and cuts nicely, holding up well under the weight of the filling. Winter is over and I have strawberry plants putting out new leaves in their bed! I will add this to my Spring pie repertoire such as Rhubarb Custard pie. Thank you for creating this beautiful, delicious seasonal pie!
Thanks for the sweet review, Dianne! We hope you get to make this pie again with your own berries this spring/summer 😊