Copycat Briermere Farms Raspberry Cream Pie

This pie came out of an intense craving for a Raspberry Cream Pie from Briermere Farms in Riverhead, Long Island. Briermere is a small farm stand on the last exit of the LIE. It's at the end of a road, past the highway, past the factory outlets, and past some farm fields that make you forget that you're in New York City at all! They sell baskets of fresh fruit and vegetables outside, and inside... is a wonderland of pies. As you walk in, an old wooden screen door snaps closed behind you, and the heavenly smell of baked fruit and flakey pie crust fill your senses. 

It's a tiny store, but a tiny store filled with pie. From apple, to cherry, to peach, made with fruit picked right from their farm! And then there are the fresh fruit cream pies.... A crisp flaky crust, filled with a fluffy flavorful cream and topped with a sweet tangy fruit topping. It's seriously heavenly. And it's also something I couldn't find anywhere else! But since it takes about an hour to drive there from where I live, popping in to pick up a pie isn't really something I can do on a whim. Good thing making this pie, is!

I didn't grow up eating cream pies. Chinese pastries are usually plain, lightly sweetened and if there was fruit, it was of the canned variety. Fruit Cocktail is a staple on top of birthday cakes. Plus my parents are scrapers. They scrape cream, frosting, glaze, everything off the top of their desserts. Basically all the good parts. So when we eat birthday cake, they eat just cake. When we buy eclairs, they scrape the chocolate off the top. What!? I know, I know. So when it comes to pie, a pie filled with cream is just not for them. Which is why I had to wait till adulthood to try cream pie of any kind!

So this cream pie, is not just cream. It's not a thick pastry cream, it's not a light whipped cream. Its sweet and tangy with body and flavor. And that all comes from the sour cream! I adapted this recipe from Jaime Cooks it up but instead of adding the cool whip,I decided to add a bit of airiness to it and added fresh whipped cream instead. This made it taste very very close to the one from Briermere farms. 

I would have wanted to make the Raspberry topping from fresh Raspberries, but berry prices in NYC have skyrocketed and it would have cost a fortune to make this pie! So frozen berries it was, and It still tasted utterly yummy. I reduced the amount of sugar in the filling and the sweet tart flavor of the raspberries helped to offset the sweet cream nicely.

Try this refreshing Raspberry Cream Pie and you'll never have to drive to the tip of Long Island for that cream pie fix!

Copycat Briermere Farms Raspberry Cream Pie

**Adapted from Jamie cooks it up Raspberry Cream Pie

Ingredients

For the Pie Crust:

I used this easy Basic Pie Crust Recipe from Taste and Tell Blog but a store bought curst would work just fine!

For the Cream Filling:

8 oz cream cheese softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tbsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups heavy cream whipped to stiff peaks

For the Raspberry Topping:

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

12 oz frozen raspberries (or fresh is fine)

1 1/2 tbsp water

1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

Method

For the Crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. Gently lay the rolled out pie dough into a 9 inch pie dish. Lightly press the dough into the corners and sides of the dish to help prevent shrinkage.
3. Prick the bottom of the pie crust a few times, then line the bottom of the pie crust with foil or parchment and fill with dried beans or pie weights.
4. Bake for 20 minutes. Them take out the foil and weights and bake for another 15 minutes will the crust is golden brown. Take out and allow to cool completely.

For the Topping: 

1. Whisk together the sugar and the cornstarch in a medium sauce pan. 
2. Add the raspberries, water, lemon juice and stir to combine.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for about 5 minutes to allow it to thicken. 
4. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Set aside to cool.

For the Cream:

1. In a stand mixer, beat cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar together till well combined. Approx 2 minutes.
2. Mix in Sour Cream and the whipped cream. 

Bring it together!

1. Pour the cream filling into the cooled pie shell. 
2. Top with the cooled Raspberry topping.
3. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.