Creamy Strawberry Cheese Pie with Sugar-Free and Gluten-Free Options

So, tomorrow Pi Day, and since I’m a former math teacher, I just have to make pie! Plus, I still had strawberries from earlier in the week and they needed to be used. This pie is a lot of things – gluten-free, sugar-free if you like, and vegetarian. I know, strawberry pie sounds vegetarian, but most cream cheese, no-bake cheese cakes type recipes have gelatin in them, which is not vegetarian. The main goals here were not too much sugar, vegetarian friendly, and, of course, delicious.

Now, about the sugar. Sugar comes in a lot of forms – not just the white stuff, but also in white flour, etc. all of which can drive blood glucose levels sky high, which is what we are trying to avoid. So, I eliminated the flour altogether by using this almond flour pie crust from Elana’s Panty. Ok, I did substitute butter for the coconut oil, but other than that it is her recipe. You should definitely go get the recipe and check out her other while you are there. She has a lot of recipes that are diabetic friendly due to using almond flour. Plus, her pie crust is so much prettier than mine. You can really use any pie crust for this pie, but this one is so easy. You just run it through the food processor and press it into the pie plate – no rolling or anything.

And, of course, strawberries have some natural sugar as do the dairy products. But, the biggest issue is, of course, the white stuff. This recipe needs a cup of sugar or the equivalent of an alternative sweetener. They now have cup for cup measures of stevia, monk fruit, and sucralose. I really don’t know how the sugar alcohols on the market convert because they cause me such digestive issues that I would never buy them. I understand that they are great if you can tolerate them, but I can’t so I have not investigated that avenue. You kind of just have to pick the one that bothers you the least as they all have their pros and cons – though honestly, I have never heard of side affects, etc. with monk fruit. And, as always with these posts, I don’t recommend you eating any of these, including sugar too often. I used a half sugar, half sucralose blend. I find that half-and-half keeps it tasting good while minimizing the affects of either product. Again, you have to do what is right for you – which I don’t believe is the same for everyone.

Enough of the sugar talk. What really is awesome is that this is really delicious. You should definitely try it. And, it is all pretty and pink