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| It's to die for, I promise! |
Okay, I know it took me longer than a day to get to this recipe, but I ran into some logistic issues with maintaining a cooking page. As you know, I'm technically still a newbie at this blog thing, and so still learning the ropes. I did not realize that "pages" offered through my particular blog hosting site of choice were static...aka cannot contain multiple posts. So, I've been scratching my head trying to figure out how to go about the desire to maintain a recipe page while not being able to separate each entry. So far, I'm still working on that issue. But while I'm figuring out the trials and errors of logistics, I figured I'd better go ahead and get this recipe out! It's too delicious to keep secret, so here it is. I hope it is worth the extra wait for most of you.
What you'll need...aka Ingredients!
For the crust:
1 cup Corn Flake crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
For the filling:
8 ounces cream cheese softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup real lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the topping:
1 can cherry pie filling, chilled
Now for the fun part, making the pie!
First off, you'll definitely need a pie pan of some sort. Doesn't matter what kind, but round is usually a good shape for a pie. Also, you will need to go ahead and place the can of pie filling into the fridge to chill. It's better to get it over with lest you forget later. After you've got that taken care of, you can move on to the ingredients.
If you can still find Corn Flake crumbs in a box in your neck of the woods, consider yourself lucky. This past holiday season we had to, for the first time ever, make the crust from scratch. If you have to purchase a box of actual Corn Flakes and crush them in a blender yourself (or whack the crap out of them with a hammer, it's great for relieving tension)...
...then plan on a big box of flakes because you'd be surprised how small they get after a good pounding! Also, you may want to add just a tad bit more butter if making your own crumbs. They tend to be a bit drier than those right out of the box.
Once the Corn Flake crumbs are good and submissive, pour in the melted butter and sugar. You can do this while in the pie pan as my mom does, or be like me and mix it all in a medium bowl and then transfer. Once the ingredients for the crust are well mixed, spread and press evenly along the bottom and sides of the pie pan. Remember this is a homemade pie, so don't get all stressed if your crust is not up to Martha Stewart's standards. I prefer mine to look loved rather than Top Cheffed.
Now that your crust is ready, time to make the filling. Now about this cream cheese, you do not want to cut any corners here. Sure you may be watching your waistline, and if so maybe you shouldn't be eating pie. No seriously, I jest. However, light or fat free cream cheese will not do at all in this pie. We tried it one year and the filling just never set right. So make sure you get the full flavored stuff or suffer the consequences of a runny pie...blech!
Take your full flavored cream cheese and beat it on low with either a hand or stand mixer, your choice, until nice and smooth. Slowly blend in the sweetened condensed milk. Once that is mixed in nicely, then add in the lemon juice and vanilla extract at the same time. This is important for some reason. I'm no expert on the science behind food blending, but for some reason the filling is a hell of a lot better when the last two ingredients are blended in at the same time. You'll just have to trust me on this one.
After all the delicious innards are blended, then plop them into the crust trying to make it all as evenly spread as possible. See, wasn't that easy? Now Just pop the pan into the fridge and chill for 24 hours. I know, no one likes to wait for pie, but delayed gratification can be very rewarding. Since you worked so hard on getting everything together, not you can lick the bowl. Don't lie, you know you want to! And don't share either, you did all the work so should get all the delicious rewards. I say this now knowing that my mother always let us kids fight over the bowl licking in the end. So if you must, just for fun, let the Hunger Games battle for bowl licking begin!
Now go to bed. The night will pass quicker that way and that will make your wait time before eating your pie more doable. Upon waking, go check the pie. If you have little ones around or a spouse, you may find mysterious fingerprints in the filling at this point. No fret, the topping will mask that later on. And if there are no fingerprints? Go ahead and swipe yourself a taste. You can always blame it on someone else later!
After your 24 hours of purgatory are up, open up your can of cherries and top your pie as evenly as possible. Once this is done, it's time to dig in! Yep, you're ready to finally enjoy your uber delicious creation.
If you feel adventurous and/or experimental, go ahead and divulge into some tweaks to the tastiness. We have tried several different fruit toppings. Our second favorite, discovered this past Thanksgiving, is peaches. Also, even though I've never personally tired it, you can take a chance with a graham cracker crust. I've been such a fan of the Corn Flake crust that I have yet to venture into new crust territory. I know some relatives who have, and they seem to enjoy the change just fine.
I'm glad I finally got around to sharing this recipe again. It is the number one must have item at all of our holiday gatherings and has been since I was just wee one. I plan on continuing the tradition with my daughter, and I'll probably even let her lick the bowl! I hope you enjoy the pie and get lots of praise from your loved ones regarding your fabulous creation. Feel free to tell them you created the recipe all on your own, it won't hurt my feelings. :-)
Till next time, as always, feel free to follow Piper and I on a daily basis on Facebook. Also, please take a moment if you would and vote for us on Top Baby Blogs by clicking the banner below.
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