No-Bake Blueberry Cream Pie

A quick no-bake version of rich dessert-style ricotta pie. Make this the day before and let the fridge do the rest.

Prep time: 25 minutes, plus plenty of chilling time

Yield: 6-8 slices

INGREDIENTS for Crust

About 15 2”x 5” graham crackers or 1 ½ cups crumbs

6 TB butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

Pinch cloves

INGREDIENTS for Pie

1 ½ bricks (8 oz) cream cheese

1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese (about half a 15-oz. tub)

1/2 cup + 2 TB sugar, divided

1 tsp. fresh lemon zest

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 cup whipping cream

12 oz. (about 2 cups) blueberries

DIRECTIONS

To make the crust, lightly spray the bottom of a 9” pie plate.  In a food processor pulse the graham crackers into crumbs.  Melt the butter.   Pulse the crumbs with the butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  Scrape crumbs into pie plate, and press to a uniform thickness on the sides and edges (Tip:  Use the bottom of a second pie plate). Chill in the fridge while you make the filling.

To make your pie filling, thoroughly blend the cream cheese, ricotta, ½ cup sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and ginger until smooth and creamy. A stand mixer is perfect for this.  With a rubber spatula, gently fold in half (one cup) of the blueberries. Scrape this mixture into your pie crust.  Whip the cream with the 2 TB sugar.  Spread the cream over the top of your pie, and top with the remaining blueberries.  Chill several hours or, even better, overnight.

Tip: Frozen blueberries help accelerate the chilling process. Just make be sure they are frozen separately, so you're not trying to mix in a block of frozen berries!