Brad’s strawberry rhubarb cheese pie

Ingredients

• 1 prepared pie crust for a deep dish 9 ' pie
• 4 strawberries, sliced for garnish
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tbs cornstarch
• 1 pinch salt
• 4 cups chopped rhubarb
• 1 cup chopped strawberries
• 1 medium lemon, juiced
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp white balsamic vinegar

Steps

1. Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt for the filling in a medium saucepan. Add strawberries, rhubarb, and lemon juice. Mix well and cook over medium heat. Stir often so sugar does not burn. Cook until sugar dissolves and sauce becomes thick. About 5 to 8 minutes.
2. While filling is cooking, grease a 9 inch, deep dish pie pan. I prefer an old tin pie pan for this, I think it cooks the crust better. Lay in crust dough. Spread out and remove any air bubbles between dough and pan.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place racks one above and one below center. When filling is done, pour into pie shell. Place on lower rack and bake for 10 minutes.
4. While pie is in the oven, mix cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar in a mixing bowl with a hand mixer. Start slow then increase speed until smooth. Add egg, vanilla, and vinegar. Mix again until very smooth.
5. After 10 minutes, remove pie from oven. Immediately add cheese topping until shell is full. Spread out toppings level. Place pie pan on a baking sheet to protect from boil over. Return to oven on the upper rack. Reduce heat to 325 degrees F. Bake on upper rack 20 to 25 minutes. Until it becomes lightly golden brown on top. You will notice a change in the smell of it baking when it starts to brown.
6. Transfer pie to the lower rack of the oven. Bake another 5 to 10 minutes. Or until cheese topping is browned and cooked through. It will still be a hair loose in the middle when shaken. That will firm up in the fridge. Remove from oven and let pie cool on the baking sheet.
7. From the picture you can see it will be puffed up a little like a souffle. It will settle back down as it cools. Be gentle with it. You don't want it to collapse. When pie pan is cool enough to handle, refrigerate for 3 hours. Or if desired, freeze for 1 hour. Cut, serve, garnish as desired. Enjoy.