Recipe: Avocado Pie for Crazed KCRW Staff

It all started with one of those intraoffice emails that went out to staff. This morning KCRW DJ Jason Bentley let us know that he brought in a haul of avocados from his tree and staff should take advantage of the unexpected bounty by plundering the offering. I responded that I have a great Avocado Pie recipe that folks might want to make for their holiday weekend pleasure. As an afterthought I asked if someone could take a picture of said avocados for me since I wasn’t at the studio today. The office went a little Avocado Crazy as this blogpost from the station documents.

Now that you have the background let’s get down to pie. Ah yes, PIE. For many the start of the Memorial Day weekend is a sign to break out their white shoes. For me, it’s the official opening of Pie Season. So why not start with the Avocado. This pie first appeared on the Good Food Blog in June 2009 just twelve days into what has become a yearly insanity called Pie-A-Day. I call it Ivana’s Pie because the recipe was given to me by one of my Angeli sisters in crime, Ivana Prince. It’s a long time family recipe for a traditional Ice Box pie (which means no baking except for the crust). It’s a take on a key lime pie but the avocado makes it so much more, well green for one thing and smooth as silk for another. You can find step by step video instructions for this pie and 19 others in my Easy As Pie app, for the iphone/ipad. It’s like your own Evan pie tutorial. Read on for the recipe.

Ivana’s Avocado Pie

1 ready made Graham Cracker Crust

For Filling:

1 large ripe but not too soft good quality avocado (this is the time to buy at the farmers market), flesh only

½ – 1 can sweetened condensed milk depending on the intensity of your sweet tooth.

¾ – 1 cup fresh lime juice

4 – 3 oz packages full fat cream cheese

For Topping:

1 small tub sour cream

Confectioners sugar to taste

Make the Filling:

Place the avocado flesh, condensed milk, lime juice and cream cheese in the food processor with steel blade. Process until completely smooth. Check for balance of sweet and tart that you like and correct with more condensed milk or more lime juice.

Pour into completely cooled crust and smooth top with spatula. Place in refrigerator.

Make the Topping:

Combine sour cream and sugar. Spread over edge of avocado filling, letting the center of the pie remain green.

Chill pie for at least 12 hours.