12 oz. cream cheese
2 eggs
1/2 c. + 2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sour cream
1 qt. strawberries, hulled & cleaned
1 tbsp. confectionery sugar
1 (10") pie shell, from scratch or prepared

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the cream cheese, and eggs, beating with an electric mixer on slow speed, slowly add 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla extract. Continue beating until smooth and fluffy. Pour into prepared pie shell. Bake for 20 minutes. Center of cream cheese mixture should not be fully cooked at this point. Remove pie from oven, turn off oven, but leave door closed. Whip the sour cream with remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Spread sour cream mixture over top of pie, leaving a flat surface. Return to turned off oven and continue cooking for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven, cool and chill in refrigerator overnight.

Before serving, carefully arrange the strawberries in circles on top of the pie. sprinkle with confectionery sugar.

For a surprise between the bottom cream cheese layer and crust, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans or toasted almonds. Before serving, sprinkle top of pie with same variety of nuts.