Whiteley Creek Homestead

I wanted to make a dessert that was fitting of today's 4th of July holiday and it needed to be cooling because it is a hot and steamy mid-summer day. My friend Connie came to the rescue with this recipe and she even supplied me with raspberries freshly picked from her patch. It is a must-make… again and again and again. The original recipe is titled Raspberry Ribbon Pie, but I renamed it Raspberry Icebox Pie because icebox desserts are so old-fashioned… a term from the days when a refrigerator was referred to as an icebox. 

Raspberry Icebox Pie

1 cup vanilla wafer crumbs (I used 6 full graham cracker sheets.)

¼ cup butter, melted

1-3 oz package raspberry gelatin

1 cup boiling water

¼ cup sugar (I omitted and it’s not missed.)

1 – 1 ½ cups fresh raspberries

1 tbsp lemon juice (I omitted.)

1 cup heavy whipping cream plus extra for spreading on top of pie, if desired

1 -3 oz package cream cheese, softened (to help eliminate lumps)

1/3 cup powdered sugar (I sifted it.)

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9-inch pie plate. Remove cream cheese from fridge to soften. To crunch graham crackers, place them in a plastic bag and roll with a pastry rolling pin. Mix in melted butter and pat into the bottom and up the sides of pie plate. Bake for 10 minutes. Set on a rack to cool. Stir raspberry gelatin into boiling water. Add lemon juice, if using, then add raspberries. Put in fridge until soft-set. Using a mixer, whip cream then transfer to another bowl. In the mixer bowl, blend cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add whipped cream and mix briefly just until incorporated but not so long that the cream turns to butter. Spread half of the cream cheese mixture on top of the cooled crust. Top with half of the gelatin mixture. Repeat the layers. (To make the prep less fussy, I spread all of the cream cheese mixture on top of the cooled crust then top with all of the soft-set gelatin rather than repeating the layers.) Top with additional whipping cream sweetened with a little bit of sugar and vanilla. (I omit the sugar in the whipping cream. The pie's overall sweetness is perfect without it.) Allow a few of the raspberries to peek out along the edges. So very pretty…