Strawberry Citrus Chiffon Pie

This Pie is great All year long! Holidays, Hot Summer Days, Special Occasions. 

So I don't know what happened to January. Hmmm. I do know what happened in November. I made this pie for Thanksgiving. It was one of 6 different pies I made. The freshness of the strawberries and the tart of the orange gave this pie a nice change from the savory of the pumpkin pie and richness of the chocolate pie I made. 

This pie would be excellent to make in the spring and summer when strawberries are at their peak. Plus, the filling is no-bake, so you don't need to heat your house on a hot summer day. 

Ingredients:

Crust:

1/2 package of gram crackers, crushed
large handful of gingersnaps, crushed

Place in large Ziploc bag and crush and smash the heck out of the crackers until fine. Then place in pie tin and add 1/4 cup melted butter and 1 Tb of sugar and mix until incorporated and you can press the crumbs to the side of the pan. Place in oven at 350 degrees and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove and let cool. *You can also use a prepared crust or you don't even need a crust. Options. I made my own crust in a disposable pan = less clean up :)

Filling:

8 oz cream cheese, soften
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped
1/2 orange zest and 2 Tb fresh orange juice
Strawberries: some halved for top and some chopped finely for filling

Glaze: (Optional)

1/2 cup Apricot Jam

In saucepan, cook jam over low heat. Heat jam until it liquefies. Let cool slightly and brush over strawberries with a thin coat to glaze the fruit.   

To make Filling:

In bowl, blend cream cheese, sugar, condensed milk, orange zest and juice until well blended and smooth. In separate bowl, mix heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold cream into cream cheese mixture. Fold in 1 cup finely chopped strawberries. *Now when it says fold, use a rubber spatula and lift (mix) from the bottom and do a fold-like motion on the top. It looks like you are folding it in half and therefore mixing it gently. The reason for this, is that the heavy whipping cream will deflate and there will be less volume and air in the filling if you mix with an electric mixture etc. 

You can also layer your pie with sliced strawberries. Place sliced strawberries in bottom of pan. Fill with half filling and smooth. Add more sliced strawberries, then rest of filling. Etc.

Add halved strawberries on top and glaze (optional). Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Enjoy!  

And this is what it looks like after 20 people have sampled and had a slice.