Its damn hot outside. The weather forecast claims that it is only 83 degrees, but we all know that the weather lies. I am melting in my hot kitchen and the last thing I wanted to do was turn the oven on. Alas, I really wanted to make this frozen pretzel raspberry pie for a rooftop potluck I was going to, which required me to bake the crust. There are remedies for everything...
I had this idea in my mind that I wanted a pretzel crust with some sort of raspberry mousse filling. All the recipes online called for gelatin (sorry, I don't like ground up bones and cartilage in my dessert) or cool whip (I also don't eat artificial ingredients anymore). So after looking through many recipes, I decided that this would be a bit of a science project. For those of you that have had my key lime pie or frozen peanut butter pie...this is the bastard son of those desserts. It is inspired by those The Good Housekeeping Cookbook recipes...but is nothing like either of them.
And now for the recipe....
Before beginning, chill a metal bowl, mixer-beaters, and heavy whipping cream into the freezer.
Ingredients:
For The Crust:
1 1/4 cups pretzel crumbs (I used a 6 oz bag of pretzel crisps)
4 T butter, melted
1 T cane or raw sugar
For The Filling
1 package frozen organic raspberries, thawed (about 10 oz)
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup + 2 T confectioner's sugar
2 T milk
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
To make the Crust:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a food processor, pulse the pretzels until they are crumbs. Or by hand, place the pretzels in a ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin to make crumbs.
3. In a large bowl, mix the crumbs, melted butter, and sugar until evenly moistened. Take 2 T of the crumbs out of the mix and set aside. Spread the rest of the crumbs in a 9" pie plate pressing firmly down and up the sides to make a rim.
4. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely.
To make the Filling:
1. Using a mixer (with the chilled bowl and beaters), beat the heavy whipping cream with 2 T confectioner's sugar until stiff peaks form. Set aside (or place in fridge if it is really hot in your apartment!).
2. Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese and confectioner's sugar until blended. Add the milk and vanilla and mix until blended. Then add the raspberries until evenly combined.
3. Fold the raspberry mixture (half at a time) with a rubber spatula into the whipped cream. Be careful not to mix it too much or the whipped cream will fall.
Place the filling into the cooled crust. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 T crumbs. Freeze for about 4-6 hours, or until firm.
Notes:
- I used an 8" pie plate and had leftover filling. So I recommend in the recipe to use a 9" one. I placed the leftover filling in empty ice pops and froze them! If you don't have those, and end up with leftover filling I'm sure you could just put it in small serving bowls to freeze and eat later.
- You can substitute neufchatel for cream cheese.
- I used frozen raspberries but you can probably use fresh ones too. I also didn't strain the seeds out of the raspberries. I was feeling lazy so I just mixed them right in there whole. If you do not want seeds in your cake you can blend the raspberries and then strain the juice through a sieve or strainer.
- I am usually in a rush to get a pie like this in the freezer since I do everything last minute. So while the crust is cooling I usually place the bowl with the filling in the freezer to start the chilling process. Then when the crust is totally cool I put the filling in it. I do not recommend placing the crust in the freezer to cool as it will change its' texture.
Update: So the pie turned out good. The filling was great. I think next time I may try to halve the cream cheese to make it slightly less fattening and reduce the amount of filling. Also, the crust was a bit crumbly. Next time I will attempt to add more butter and/or water to the crust so that it holds together better. I recommend trying the crust with 6T of butter or an entire half a stick. (gasp!)
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