Strawberry Cheesecake Heart Pie

Today a few of my food blogging friends and I are sharing Valentine's Day ideas and I "road tested" this pie on my honey last weekend.  He loves pie!  I usually make fruit pies but this time I wanted to try something different, in this case, cheesecake.  I love cheesecake!  See, now we're both happy.

The heart shapes in the crust were actually quite easy to make but the trick was to get them to not sink into the cheesecake custard.  So I had to make a couple of test pies.  It's a tough job...  Brian looked at it and said it was almost too pretty to cut into.  And then he promptly cut a big hunk for himself.  If he hadn't, I certainly would have.  Enjoy!












Ingredients

Crust:
2 Cups all purpose flour
1/4 Cup sugar
1 Teaspoon salt
2 Teaspoons baking powder
2 Sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1" pieces
1/2 Cup ice water

Filling:
16 oz. Cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup sour cream
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt

1/2 Cup strawberry jam, at room temperature

To make the crust, combine the butter, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a food processor with a steel blade and pulse just until it resembles course crumbs. Slowly pour in the ice water and pulse until a dough ball forms.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Cut the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator.  Roll out the other half on a well floured surface until you have about a 10" round.  Place the dough round into a 9" pie dish and crimp the edges slightly.

To make the filling, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, eggs, vanilla and salt until thoroughly combined.  Pour into the pie shell and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly but leave the oven on.

Place spoonfuls of the jam on top of the semi set custard and swirl around slightly with a butter knife.

Roll out the second half of the dough and cut out heart shapes.  I used a 3" cutter for the outer row and a 2" cutter towards the center but you can make them all the same size.  Lay the hearts on top of the cheesecake in an overlapping pattern.  Return to the oven for an additional 30 - 40 minutes or until the crust is a light golden brown.  Makes approximately 8 servings.

Be sure to check out what my fellow bakers made!

1. Chocolate Dipped Sttrawberry Hi Hat Cupcakes (Gluten Free) from Pineapple and Coconut

2. Frosted Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies from Magnolia Days

3. White Chocolate Mousse with Frangelico from That Skinny Chick Can Bake

4. Chocolate Caramel Pretzel 'n Chip Tart from Gotta Get Baked

5. White Chocolate Cherry Brownies from The Messy Baker

6. Chocolate Champagne Cupcakes from The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen

7. Sugar-Free Blueberry Yogurt Truffles from What Smells So Good

8. Strawberry Cheesecake Heart Pie from Hungry Couple NYC

9 Red Velvet Heart Sandwich Cookies from Jen's Favorite Cookies

10. Chocolate Cannoli Cones from Created By Diane

11. Cherry Cheesecake Stuffed Cupcakes from Chocolate Moosey

12. Nutella Brownie Cheesecake No-Churn Ice Cream from Cupcakes and Kale Chips

13. Valentines Smores Hearts from Kelly Bakes

14. Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies from Roxana's Home Baking