Cookies and Cream Pie

Creamy, rich, smooth and cold. I have found this pie to be very crowd pleasing. This recipe can be modified for a wide variety of flavors. Change the pudding mix and extract to suit your fancy. I've made Coconut Cream, Banana Cream, Strawberry Cream, Strawberry-Banana Cream, on and on, with equally good results. For a super luscious Chocolate Cream Pie, melt 4oz of chocolate and blend it into the condensed milk before creaming. For fillings without pieces, i.e. not this particular variation, you can ensure a silky texture by forcing the filling through a sieve just before adding it to the pie shell.

Makes 1 - 9" pie, Serves ~ 8

4oz cream cheese, softened
7oz sweetened condensed milk
1 c. milk
1 (5oz) box instant cookies and cream pudding mix
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
** 1 pre-baked 9" deep dish pie shell

1 c. (½ pint) heavy whipping cream
~1 tbsp powdered sugar (more or less to taste)
* 2 tbsp white decorators gel (optional)

1. Cream together the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk.
2. Slowly add the milk. Stir well.
3. Add pudding mix and vanilla.
4. Beat until the mixture becomes thickened. (~5 min)
5. Pour into pre-baked pie shell.
6. Chill at least 4 hours.

~2 hours before serving

1. Whip heavy cream until soft peaks form.
2. Add powdered sugar and whip until medium peaks form. Do not over beat.
3. Spread whipped cream evenly over filling.
4. Chill at least 1 hour.

* If you live in a particularly hot and/or humid area then you may want to stabilize the whipped cream to help prevent melting or weeping. This can be easily done by adding white decorators gel just before you beat the cream to medium peaks.

** You can either purchase a pre-baked pie shell or blind bake one yourself. To blind bake means simply to bake without anything in it. You usually do this for pies, such as cream pies, in which the filling remains uncooked.

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Prick the inner surface, including the sides, all over with a fork. This allows steam to escape and insures your nice shape remains nice.
3. Combine the white of 1 egg with 1 tsp water.
4. Gently brush the edges with the egg white mixture.
5. Sprinkle the rim lightly with sugar. (Skip this step for savory pies.)
6. Form a circle of aluminum foil and place inside the shell.
7. Fill the foil enclosure with either uncooked rice or dry beans.
8. Press down slightly on the filler.
9. Place the pie shell on a cookie sheet and bake 10-12 min or until the crust begins to turn golden.
10. Carefully remove the filler by grasping the edges of the foil and lifting the entire package out.
11. Continue baking the shell 2-5 min or until dry. If the edges begin to over-brown loosely cover the shell with a sheet of foil.