Strawberry Pie (Wow! This is really yummy!) 

From Linda Book's World of Music for Kids (www.lindabook.com)

This is a favorite summer dessert recipe of Linda's!

Kids, make sure you cook with an adult. It's safer, especially with this recipe, because the pie filling is very, very hot! Besides that, cooking with an adult is fun!

This recipe makes one 9-inch pie.

NOTE: If you want to cut down on the fat and calories in this recipe, eliminate the cream cheese.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Soften the cream cheese and spread on the bottom of the baked pie shell. Then line the shell with about 1/2 basket of the ripest strawberries.

If berries are large, cut them in half.

Mash the remaining berries and add 1 cup of sugar. Blend well.

Then stir in the cornstarch 1 tablespoon at a time to prevent lumping. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.

When the mixture thickens and clarifies (i.e., the "cloudy" quality disappears and the mixture becomes clear and gelatinous looking), cook at a gently bubbling boil for another 5 minutes.

Remove the filling from the heat and cool.

Pour the cooled filling into the pie shell and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

If the filling is still slightly warm when the pie goes into the refrigerator, I don't cover it until it has completely cooled to refrigerator temperature.

At serving time, top with freshly whipped cream. This pie is best eaten when it is very fresh, within a day or two after cooking.