It’s hot. Very, very hot. I made a pledge not to complain about the heat this year, after last summer’s 56 days of temperatures over 100, but I’m finally facing up to the facts. 96 degrees, while not 103–and certainly not 103 for the 50^th day in a row–is still hot.

Very, very hot.

And, after weighing in at the doctor’s office this morning and getting a clean bill of health for another year, I decided it might be time for something a little indulgent. A little creamy. And very, very cold. It’s been a few weeks since the Lemon Icebox Cake calorie fest, after all, and at the grocery store this afternoon I saw a quart of gorgeous strawberries that reminded me of how quickly the summer fruit season will be behind us for another year. But how to transform those healthy berries into something less virtuous? That was the question.

When I was a teenager in 4-H, I learned how to make a delicious frozen strawberry pie. Well, delicious circa 1978—the pie filling included two cups of strawberry yogurt and a whole container of Cool Whip. That wouldn’t have been an unusual combination for me at the time, but since Cool Whip doesn’t belong to one of the major food groups, I don’t generally eat it anymore. Still, the basic concept behind that pie remains pretty appealing: a fruity, creamy, frozen filling on top of a crispy, buttery graham cracker crust. What’s not to love? So I started to think about how to re-construct that pie in a healthier, more food-friendly way.

I didn’t think plain whipped cream would be an adequate substitute for Cool Whip—it’s generally softer than its non-dairy doppelganger—but I figured stabilized whipped cream would do the trick. That involves adding unflavored gelatin to the cream while it’s whipping. (Yes, yes, you’ll remember that I have issues with Jello. I do not, for some reason, have the same issues with unflavored gelatin. Go figure.) I also wanted to use some of those beautiful, fresh strawberries. I looked at a recipe for Strawberry Fool, which sounded delicious, but I didn’t want the filling to have the consistency of a mousse—I wanted some whole, luscious pieces of strawberry in the mix, not just a smooth puree. Then I looked at a recipe for a frozen Raspberry Cream Pie on the Pioneer Woman website. Her recipe included a box of instant vanilla pudding mix, and I didn’t have pudding mix on hand—and I didn’t really want to put it in this pie anyway. I thought the gelatin would serve the same thickening function as the pudding mix. But I did decide to add some vanilla and sugar to the cream while it whipped, just for good measure.

We had our first delicious taste of this pie after it had been in the freezer for about four hours. At that point, the top half of the filling was frozen and the bottom half was still soft and creamy, but stable enough to hold its shape. I’m planning to leave it in the freezer overnight, until it’s frozen through, then let it sit out for half an hour or so before trying another slice tomorrow. Maybe for breakfast. It’s supposed to be 92 degrees by noon.

Update:  This pie is as tasty on Day 2 as it was a few hours after I made it, and the filling hasn’t lost its shape, even after completely thawing.  The crust has softened a little, absorbing some liquid from the filling. But it’s still delicious.

Frozen Strawberry Cream Pie

Ingredients:

For the crust:
1 sleeve graham crackers (about 12)
¼ cup granulated sugar
6 T. butter, melted

For the filling:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
¼ cup water
1 pint strawberries
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup light whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla
2 containers strawberry yogurt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the graham crackers in a food processor and grind them into crumbs—or, if you don't have a food processor, (or, if you're lazy like me and have a food processor but would rather not drag it out and clean it up again), put them in a large, sealed plastic bag. Use a rolling pin to crush the crackers into fine crumbs. Pour the crumbs into a pie plate, stir the sugar into the crumbs, and pour the melted butter over this mixture. Stir with a fork until all the crumbs are coated with butter. Then use your fingers to spread the crumbs across the bottom and up the sides of the pan, pressing them firmly into place. (If you have another pie pan of the same size, use that to press the crumbs against the pan—just put it on top of the crumbs and press down hard.) Bake the pie crust for 10 minutes. Let it cool completely before you start to make the filling.

Measure ¼ cup water into a small bowl and sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over it. Let this sit while you wash, hull and chop the strawberries. Sprinkle ¼ cup of the sugar over the chopped strawberries and let them sit while you take care of the whipped cream. Pour the cream into a mixing bowl and, with the mixer going, gradually add the softened gelatin. (It will now be about the texture of egg whites, kind of slimy and thick. You will wonder if something has gone very wrong. Reassure yourself that it has not.) When the cream starts to look foamy, add the remaining ¼ cup of granulated sugar, a little at a time, and the vanilla. Continue whipping the cream until it holds stiff peaks.

Turn off the mixer and gently fold the two containers of yogurt into the whipped cream with a spatula. The key word here is gently—you don't want to take the air out of the cream. When it looks like the yogurt has been incorporated, gently fold in the chopped strawberries (and the juice they will have given off while sitting there in the sugar).

Mound the strawberry mixture in the center of your cooled graham cracker crust, then smooth it out toward the edges with a spatula. Put the pie pan in the freezer (without plastic wrap or anything on top of it) for about 30 minutes—after that, once the top has set a little, you can wrap the pie with plastic and the cream filling won't stick to it.