This Fourth of July, I wanted to make a festive little something to decorate with the good ole red, white and blue! I decided on this fabulous, light and refreshing mascarpone pie, fragranced with lemon juice and zest.
It’s a no bake recipe, so it set in the refrigerator. I decorated it with sliced strawberries and blueberries, and decided on a clear gelatin topping to preserve the fruit, as I had made this the night before. You can top it with anything your like, and the gelatin glaze is totally optional.
The crust is made of toasted almond flour with a little almond extract and cinnamon to give the impression of amaretti cookies, which I love so much! Alternatively, you can always use a ready made graham cracker pie crust, or crush your favorite cookies in a food processor for this. My recipe is sugar free, low carb, gluten free, and keto friendly.
While my recipe uses gelatin, if you use powdered sugar or a powdered sweetener, then you actually don’t need the gelatin for this pie filling. It will set without it. However, I am only using a 1/4 tsp of powdered monk fruit due to my sweetener sensitivities, so the gelatin is a necessity to this recipe. If you wish to make it with your favorite powdered sweetener, then use one cup of it for this recipe and skip on the gelatin all together!
Ingredients:
Filling:
8 oz. of cream cheese (brick not whipped) – room temperature
16 oz of mascarpone – room temperature
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp of pure powdered monk fruit
2 envelopes of gelatin
1/2 cup of water
1/4 tsp of salt
Crust:
2 cups of super fine blanched almond flour, toasted.
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp of sweetener or a pinch of powdered monk fruit
1/2 tsp of almond extract
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 tsp of salt
1 stick of melted butter
Optional Gelatin glaze topping:
1/2 cup water
1 packet of gelatin
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp of sugar, honey or sugar free sweetener
Directions:
Begin by dry toasting the almond flour for the crust in a dry pan, stirring it around every so often. When you have achieved a light brown color, then place the almond flour into a mixing bowl. Mix the dry crust ingredients together. Melt the butter. When the butter is melted, stir in the almond and vanilla extracts to that. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix them together with a fork. Press that into a pie pan. Place that into the freezer for 30 minutes.
In a small pot, pour in 1/2 cup of water and the gelatin over top. Allow it to bloom for five minutes and then bring it to a simmer till the gelatin has dissolved. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with the salt, sweetener, vanilla extract, and lemon zest and juice. Add in the mascarpone. If you over beat mascarpone, it will bead up like it has curdled. So be careful. It’s still edible if this happens, so don’t fret too much about it. Add in the whipping cream and finally the gelatin. Pour it all into the prepared pie dish.
Let it set in the refrigerator for two hours before decorating it, or for four hours before slicing it.
You can decorate it if you want or however you want! I decided on blueberries and strawberries to keep in theme with the Fourth of July. You can truly use any fruit that you so desire. The gelatin topping is certianly optional, and like I said I used it to preserve the sliced fruit.
To make the gelatin glaze you will need 1 packet of gelatin and 1/2 cup of water. Allow it to bloom, and bring that to a simmer along with a teaspoon of sweetener (sugar, honey, or sugar free sweetener) and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Let that cool down, but not solidify. Gently spoon it over the fruit and then the whole surface. Set it in the refrigerator for an hour.
If you want to skip the fruit all together, then you can actually make a flavored gelatin topping using flavored jello too. A little imagination and the sky in the limit!
It is ready to slice and enjoy!
Kali Oreksi!
on xenia street 