Fruit & Cream Pie

Recently I went into the office and we had a 'food day' where everyone brings a dish.  A co-worker brought a pie called Millionaire Pie.  I'm not sure where the name came from, but in essence, it's a pineapple cream pie.  It's wonderfully light and fluffy - great for summer! It's also super easy since it's a no-bake pie (other than baking the pie crust).

The original recipe calls for Cool Whip.  And although I love Cool Whip and could eat an entire container with a spoon in one sitting, I don't eat it.  I made the mistake once of looking at the ingredients and it reads like a science experiment.  I substituted homemade whipped cream in the recipe along with a few other changes.  Interestingly though, I just came across a recipe for homemade Cool Whip and you can bet your sweet bibby I'll be trying it soon!  I'll post sometime about how it turns out.

I've also made a couple of variations of the pie.  For instance, instead of pineapple, I lined the pie crust with banana slices and mixed banana in.  It was de-licious!  Don't be afraid to change up the recipe to try things you like.  Below, I have my version of the recipe which I just call 'Fruit & Cream Pie', along with the original.

Happy pie making!

Fruit & Cream Pie

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked and cooled
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 8 ounces crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup almonds (or your favorite nut), chopped
• 12 ounces whipped cream (1 ½ cups cream + 2 Tbsp sugar + 2 tsp vanilla extract.  Beat to stiff peaks.)

Directions:

1. Cream together the cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer; let the mixer run on high for 3-4 minutes.
2. Stir pineapple into cream cheese mixture. Stir in nuts (set aside 2 Tbsp to garnish the top of pie). Mix well.
3. Fold in 2/3 of whipped cream.
4. Fill pie crust with mixture. Top with remaining whipped cream and nuts.
5. Chill for several hours.

Variations:

Instead of pineapple use:

• 2 bananas – line bottom of shell with 1, put other in the cream cheese mix. Or just mix them both in.
• 1 ½ cups strawberries (diced)
• Heck, just use any fruit you like and mix it in however you want!

Original recipe (Millionaire Pie):

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 8 ounces crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup pecan, chopped
• 8 ounces Cool Whip

1. Cream together the cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer; let the mixer run on high for 3-4 minutes.
2. Stir pineapple into cream cheese mixture. Stir in coconut and pecans (hold some out to garnish the top of pie). Mix well.
3. Carefully fold in 3/4 of Cool Whip.
4. Fill pie crust with mixture. Top with remaining Cool Whip, pecans, and coconut
5. Chill for several hours.