Florida orange pie

I love old postcards. And I love pie. Somebody who knows these two things about me recently sent me this: 

 

The oranges against the orange background are amazing, as are the scalloped edges, on the postcard and the pie.  Even better, the recipe was on the back.  I knew instantly I had to make it. Though pie by name, this is essentially a cheesecake, an old-school one at that - moreish biscuit base, fluffy cream cheese filling and "baked" in the refrigerator, rather than the oven.  It's the kind of dessert you'd find in the slowly rotating glass display case of a diner (another thing I love).  You might not notice it at first, in amongst all the towering meringues, and lattice crusts, and struesel toppings barely containing their berries below, but your eye would be drawn to it eventually, its orange tint enticing.  If you ordered it, you'd be rewarded: light, smooth and bursting with the bright tang of citrus, this is a pie worth posting - both with a stamp, and on a blog.

Florida orange pie

Adapted from a postcard by the Gator Card Co

I'm a long way from Florida and didn't have access to graham crackers, so after some research made my pie shell from the comparable (Australian-made) Marie biscuits.  The original recipe called for orange food colouring, which I omitted (in favour of the pale flecks of colour from the orange zest, which mirrored the faded quality of old postcards) but if you're after more of a Floridan perma-tan hue, a couple of drops would certainly do it.

 

2 8 ounce packages of cream cheese

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

grated rind of two oranges

3 teaspoons of lemon juice

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream

1 1/4 cup confectioner's (icing) sugar

9 inch prepared graham cracker pie shell  (I used this recipe)

Heartily blend the cream cheese and sugar with the orange juice and graed rind.  Beat the whipping cream until thick and full bodied.  Fold both mixtures together adding lemon juice.  Pour into chilled pie shell and continue chilling until firm.