It’s pie time for the “You Want Pies With That?” group. This month’s theme is “Summer Pies” selected by Mary at Alpineberry and Rebecca at Ezra Pound Cake. When I found out the theme, I started to think of all of my favorite summer treats and suddenly flashbacked to childhood to those mini sundaes that my sister and I used to beg for.

You know, the ones stacked in the long, plastic bags with the little wooden spoon underneath the lid, sitting on top of the chocolate or strawberry swirl. Shortly after the flashback, I became obsessed with finding them. I still have yet to find the ones that we used to get, but this one comes pretty close. Once I had taken the first bite and had that little wooden spoon in hand, I knew what I would create.

I’ve never made one of those swirly cheesecake pies, but always love the way they look. This pie doubled as one of our 4th of July desserts. Lord knows, at this point in summer the last thing I need is two pies tempting me. I made them in mini stars and winged it way more than usual. It started with the standard graham cracker crust recipe (which we’ve all probably memorized). The cheesecake recipe was the condensed milk and cream cheese filling. I’ve never made

a cheesecake this way. The filling was good, not the best I’ve had – maybe it’s because I was raised on my mom’s version. The second time around, I’ll try another cheesecake filling recipe. The highlight of the process was making the little marbelized swirls (It doesn’t take much to excite me these days!).

Does this compare to my memory of those strawberry sundaes I used to have on hot summer nights? Well…no, but isn’t that how memories usually are – just a tad embellished over time?

 Need more summer pie ideas? Head over to “You Want Pies With That?” and see this month’s roundup.

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake Pie

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup white sugar

6 tablespoons butter, melted

Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter or margarine until well blended . Press mixture into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees F for 7 minutes. Cool.

Cheesecake Filling (Adapted from Southern Food recipe) *

4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

4 eggs

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in condensed milk; beat until smooth. Add flour, eggs, and vanilla; beat until sell blended. Pour into prepared crust. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan in heavy duty foil; place the pan in a shallow baking pan, such as a jelly roll pan. Put the pans in the oven and add about 2 cups of hot water to the shallow baking pan, or to a depth of about 1/2-inch. Bake for 1 hour, or until lightly browned. The cheesecake will be just slightly jiggly in the center. Cool.

*Note- When using 6 small ramekins, I halved the recipe for the filling and it was plenty. I did not do the water/jelly roll pan method for these mini ones. I placed them on a baking sheet and cooked for about 20 minutes.

Strawberry Swirl

1 cup fresh strawberries

1 tbsp. sugar

Combine strawberries and sugar and puree in a food processor until smooth. Spoon dollops of strawberry sauce onto cooled cheesecake. Use a toothpick to create the swirls, but don’t over do it. Refrigerate for several hours before serving (up to 24 hours).