Cheese Custard Pie

Crust:
1/8 lb. soft butter (½ stick)
½ C. sugar
½ t. baking powder
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 C. flour

Place all the above ingredients in a metal 9x9 square pan. Mix together with hands. Bring slightly up the sides of the pan. I dampen my hands a bit during the mixing. It seems to go better. Don’t make it too wet however.

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
2 egg yolks (reserve egg whites)
½ C. sugar
1½ T. flour
2 C. milk
1 t. vanilla

Cream the cheese, sugar, and flour together. Add egg yolks, milk, and vanilla. Make sure the mixture is very smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff and gently fold into mixture. You want it to look puffy. Pour into pan and sprinkle cinnamon on top. Bake at 350° for one hour. Let cool before serving.

Ah! The cheese custard pie. Let me tell you how we got this recipe. There is a restaurant in downtown Philadelphia on Walnut Street where all the expensive shops are located and where business men go for lunch.
They serve a cheese custard pie that is a celestial dessert. While they will sell everything else in the restaurant for carryout, they will not sell this one except as dessert to be eaten in the restaurant. Well, we were visiting a family in the Valley Forge Ward. The father was a returned missionary who married a girl from Quito, Ecuador. Interestingly, one of the dishes the wife served for dinner was popcorn, which apparently was the custom in her country. In return we invited them to dinner. She offered to bring a cheese pie for dessert. Immediately I thought of the cream cheese pie with cherries on top that was so rich that you could not eat more than the thinnest slice. When they arrived for dinner she brought two pies---one to be served after dinner and one to be savored by us alone later. When she uncovered one of the pies I could not believe my eyes. It was the same one the exclusive restaurant in Philadelphia served. She even had a copy of the recipe with her to give us. I mean, how much more blessed can you get than that.
By the way, this dessert will be served in the Celestial Kingdom! Do you know why? Because those who are exalted will have a fullness of joy. And there could be no fullness of joy if we had to settle for the memory of having enjoyed this incredible dessert in mortality. Now how is that for infallible logic? Why that would make the Greeks proud.

Vanilla Cheesecake

Crust:
1 ½ C. graham cracker crumbs (12 whole crackers)
3 T. sugar
½ t. ground cinnamon
½ C. unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
4 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, room temp.
2 T. plain flour
¼ t. salt
1 ¼ C. sugar
½ C. sour cream
1 T. vanilla
3 large eggs, room temp.

Preheat oven to 300°
Make crust—all ingredients at once. Press into bottom & 2 in. up sides of 9-inch springform pan.
For filling, combine cream cheese, flour & salt; beat until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add sugar, sour cream & vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time. Bake until filling is set, but center still jiggles slightly, 60-70 minutes. Cool on rack to room temp. Cover & refrigerate until well chilled (I like to leave it overnight).