Tutti Frutti Pie

This was my mother’s recipe and remains one of my dad’s favorites. It’s simple and a delight for fruit-lovers. It requires a graham cracker crumb crust, which you can buy readymade at the store. For the homemade crust recipe, see the very end of this recipe.

Ingredients

1 graham cracker crumb crust (store bought or homemade—see end of recipe)
15 oz. can of fruit cocktail (use fruit packed in juice, not syrup)
½ c. chopped canned pineapple (optional—not necessary)
1 pint sour cream (Tofutti sour cream works, but it won’t gel up quite as well as real sour cream)
½ t. vanilla
¼ c. honey or maple syrup
¾ c. chopped walnuts
1 tsp. nutmeg

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚. Drain the liquid from the fruit cocktail. Combine the fruit cocktail, sour cream, vanilla, and honey. (Extra tip: add about ½ cup of canned pineapple cut into small pieces.) Pour the mixture into the pie shell. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts across the top then sprinkle nutmeg on top of that. Bake for 30 minutes at 350˚. Cool on the counter for 15 minutes then place in the refrigerator to chill. Let it set for about 2 hours before serving. If you use real sour cream, it will thicken up. The Tofutti sour cream does not thicken up so well but it works as a substitute for dairy well enough to use.

How to make a graham cracker crumb crust:
If you want to make a graham cracker crumb crust from scratch, here’s how. Put the equivalent of about 2 cups of graham crackers into a sturdy plastic bag. Wrap the bag in a thin dish towel. Then beat the graham crackers into crumbs with a hammer. If the bag breaks, transfer to another bag. Melt 1 stick of butter (¼ pound). Put the graham crackers into a pie pan and blend with ¼ cup of organic sugar. Then add the melted butter and blend thoroughly, pressing the crust into the pan to cover it completely.

Eat well, be well, live deliciously!