Recipe: Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie

Yesterday morning before I left for the cruise.

I stress ran 8 miles.

Stress bought five jars of peanut butter to take with me (the Carnival Glory may cap the amount of alcohol you can take aboard at 1 bottle but they have not a single policy on peanut butter! They obviously don't know who they're dealing with.).

Stress made myself seasick (nausea, lightheadedness, orthostatic hypotension...I had it all).



Stress called my parents. 

Both of them. 

Separately.  (That's how you know it was bad.)



And stress wished that I hadn't left the remains of this pie at their house this past weekend because, wouldn't you know, it would have made the perfect thing to stress eat!

(This was all while I should have been stress packing, mind you. You can see I have my priorities straight.)



So then I decided to spend an ordinate amount of time stress daydreaming about it's creamy lemony cheesecake insides and it's melt-in-your-mouth blueberry topping.  You should do the same.

Or really, you should stress make it.  Because at least one of us should be stressing out in an efficient way.



Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie
Makes 1 deep dish 9-inch pie, adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice

Ingredients
For the Crust

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 3/4 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4-7 tbsp ice water

For the Pie 

• 8 oz reduced fat cream cheese
• 1/2 cup low fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, divided
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of 1 lemon
• pinch or two of salt
• 3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (don't thaw if using frozen)
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp heavy cream or milk

Instructions

1. Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse to combine.  Add in the in the butter and pulse until butter chunks are the size of peas and mixture looks like coarse sand.  Add in the ice water, 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing in-between each, until dough just comes together.  Gather it into a ball, divide it into two equal parts, flatten each into a disc, cover each with saran wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 400.  On a floured surface, roll one of the pie crust discs into a 12-inch circle.  Transfer to a 9-inch pie dish and cut off the overhanging edges.
3. Lightly prick the bottom of the pie crust with a fork all over.  Place a piece of parchment paper over the crust and fill with baking beans or pie weights.  Bake 12 minutes.  Remove pie weights and bake an additional five minutes.
4. While pie is cooking and cooling, work on the braid around the edge.  Check out Martha Stewart's site for this tutorial that makes it easier than I ever could!
5. Lower oven to 350.  In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until creamy and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add in the sour cream, sugar, one of the eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest and salt.  Mix until combined.  Spread evenly over the bottom of the pie crust.
6. In a large bowl, toss together the blueberries, cornstarch, 1/4 cup sugar, and lemon juice until well combined.  Drop the berry mix over the top of the cream cheese mixture as evenly as possible. 
7. Whisk the remaining egg with 1 tsp heavy cream or milk.  Brush over the top of the braided pie crust.  Bake 40-50 minutes until top is set.  Remove to wire rack to cool about 2 hours.  Refrigerate for 4-6 hours before serving.