Cherry Cream Cheese Pie with Pecan Crust

I loves me some cherries! Fresh, frozen, dehydrated, canned. I don’t care. I love them all. And there are literally billions of ways to eat them. This recipe for Cherry Cream Cheese Pie happens to be one of my favorite ways. With homemade cream cheese and pecan crust. Two more of my favorite things. 🙂

This recipe makes a nice sized pie or 8 cute little individual ones. I used some little tart pans with removable bottoms. Mini spring-form pans work just as well. I think the little mini pans are so cute! I’m such a girl! 🙂

The crust recipe makes more than you need if you’re doing the mini pans. But that’s OK because then you have some left over to sprinkle on top. Or put on a fruit salad. Or on top of scones. Or…you get the picture.

The cream cheese mixture needs to be chilled for at least 6 hours and the crust needs to be completely cooled before you put the filling in. So what I like to do is to make the crust up the night before and then make the filling in the morning. Then just refrigerate until dinner. Very little hands on time required. Oh look, another of my favorite things!

One of the many things that I love about this recipe is that the cream cheese isn’t baked like a traditional cheesecake, so you still get the benefits of the raw cheese if you’re using homemade.

So go grab your cutest apron and let’s get started!

Go here for the Pecan Crust Recipe.

Cherry Cream Cheese Pie Filling

• 20 oz homemade cream cheese (about 1 recipe), at room temperature
• 4 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp homemade vanilla
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon (I get my organic spices from Starwest Botanicals)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp powdered sugar*
• 1 quart homemade cherry pie filling

*to make powdered sugar, put 1 cup of sugar in the blender and process until powdered.

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and beat again. This can also be done in a food processor if you have one. It’s harder to get the cream cheese and butter silky smooth in a mixer.

Add the vanilla, cinnamon, and sea salt and beat again. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, beating after each addition.

Spoon into the crust. Make sure that the crust is completely cool. Smooth the top and put in the fridge to chill for at least 6 hours.

When you ready to serve it, top the cream cheese mixture with cherry pie filling, or any other fruit or pie filling of your choice.

Sprinkle some of those extra crust crumbles on the top to garnish and serve.

Bon appètit!

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