Strawberry Lemonade Cheesepie

I learned from the all-knowing Internet that when you make a cheesecake in a pie dish you have to
call it a “cheesepie” not a “cheesecake.” Well, la-ti-da! Lucky for us, this pie is to die for, whichever way
you slice it! The pie is baked in a water bath, but don’t let that scare you. It’s just a simple extra step that
guarantees a creamy filling with no cracks.
½ recipe Basic Pie Crust (1 crust)
Filling:
1 8-ounce container
vegan cream cheese
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons yogurt
(1 6-ounce container)
1 aseptic container fi rm silken tofu
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
toPPing:
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1¼ cups strawberries,
fresh or frozen, chopped
¼ cup water
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Roll out chilled pie crust to about 12 inches in diameter
and place in a 9-inch pie dish. Trim and crimp edges and
poke crust with the tines of a fork in several places. Put a
sheet of parchment paper on top of crust and fi ll with pie
weights or 2 cups dried beans and bake for 10 minutes. Let
crust cool on a cooling rack and remove the beans or pie
weights.
For Filling: Purée cream cheese, yogur t, tofu and sugar in
a food processor or blender until smooth, scraping down
sides as needed. Add vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice
until incorporated. Pour mixture into cooled pie crust.
Place pie dish in a large baking pan with high sides. Add
enough warm water to the pan to come up to the middle
of the side of the pie dish. This is called a water bath, and it
will prevent your pie from cracking and will keep it creamy
without it getting a skin on top. If the water evaporates
while baking, add more as needed, but only add hot water
so you do not shock your bakeware and risk it cracking.
Bake pie for 1 hour. Center may not look completely set,
but will fi rm up while cooling. Remove pie from oven and
remove from water bath to cool on cooling rack.
For Topping: While pie is baking, combine sugar and
cornstarch in a sauce pan. Add strawberries and water and
stir to combine. Over medium-high heat, bring mixture to
a boil, continuously stirring. Once mixture boils, lower heat
to medium. Continue stirring, and cook until strawberries
become soft and mixture thickens, about 5 to 10
minutes. Remove from heat. Let topping cool completely,
occasionally stirring to keep a skin from forming.
Spread cooled strawberry topping on cooled cheesepie.
Let set in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
Store leftover pie covered in the fridge.
Yield: 1 PIE, 12 SLICES
Prep time: 50 MINUTES