Healthified Strawberry Cream Pie!

Before I give you the recipe to my delicious, healthy strawberry cream pie you must hear the story behind its making.

Cherry Cream Pie is a tradition in my family. My grandma makes THE BEST cherry cream pie each time we celebrate someones birthday and we always look so forward to it because its absolutely delicious. The problem is that it's made with white sugar, heavy whipping cream, cream cheese and lots of butter so unfortunately it's definitely NOT healthy, which always weighs on my mind a second or two before I sink my teeth into that first bite and forget everything bad in the world. The other thing that I don't particularly love is the cherries on top - I have an issue eating cherries in things because where there should be a nice solid bite, I get a mushy little cherry...gross. I love the juice and flavoring of it, but I always pick off the actual cherries and pass them to the plate next to me. I think that's also a bit of a tradition;)

So for my grandmas 81st birthday this weekend I decided that I would make her a healthy version of our familys favorite pie substituting the cherries for strawberries (which she loves)!

After creating this recipe I entered both of them into MyFitnessPal to find out the exact calculations and was very thankful I hadn't made the real thing.

The original recipe has a whopping 950 calories in 1/16 of an 8x8 baking dish which is probably about half the size of the pieces we normally serve, where my healthy recipe only had 250 calories!

"GRAHAM CRACKER" CRUST:

1 CUP TOASTED PECANS

1 CUP ALMOND FLOUR

1 TBSP HONEY

1.5 TSP CINNAMON

½ TSP SALT

4 TBSP GRASS FED BUTTER

Mix together then press into an 8x8 baking dish and bake at 350 for 15-18 min. Refrigerate overnight or 4 hours.

CREAM FILLING:

1 CAN TRADER JOES COCONUT CREAM

3/4 BLOCK FAT FREE OR 1/3 LESS FAT CREAM CHEESE

½ CUP LOWFAT COTTAGE CHEESE

¼ CUP DATE SUGAR

¼ CUP COCONUT SUGAR

2 STEVIA PACKETS

Refrigerate coconut cream overnight for separation. Opening can upside down, drain the liquid out. Whip coconut cream with electric mixer until light & fluffy. In separate bowl combine softened cream cheese, cottage cheese, coconut & date sugars (you could pick just one and use 1/2 c) and stevia until smooth. Fold into whipped coconut cream until combined then put into baked, cold, pie crust. Chill for 1-3 hours.

TOPPING:

4-6 CUPS STRAWBERRIES CHOPPED

2 TBSP HONEY

2 TBSP MAPLE SYRUP

1 TBSP LEMON JUICE

1 TBSP ARROWROOT

Simmer strawberries, sweetener and lemon juice for 5-10 min, then whisk in arrowroot. Simmer for 3-5 more minutes or until thickened. Allow to cool then top coconut cream mixture with it. Refrigerate for 1-3 hours.

Devour with delight!

You could try all sorts of sweetener substitutions in this recipe along with trying a different type of fruit topping. Make it your own tradition!

#healthy #treats #creampie #strawberry #coconut #pecan #almond #paleo #creamcheese #coconutcream #grahamcracker #fitlife