Award Winning Grapefruit Pie - Made From Scratch Plus An Almond-Extract Liquor And Apricot Glaze

Grapefruit pies are popular in south Texas where several varieties of these fruits grow in abundance. Most of fruits used are the pink or red ones, known for their mild tartness, sweetness, carotenoids, and low acidity. All grapefruit are regarded as healthy, often eaten by those losing weight or wanting to enrich their diet. Yet physicians do not recommend them to people taking cholesterol drugs. Too bad.
According to the local food-reviewer/journalist and guest judge who covered the pie contest that discovered this winning recipe, grapefruit and other citrus fruit are the offspring of "citron," a fruit grown in Iran as early as 4 B.C. It doesn't matter though. These contest pies were made from today's valley-grown grapefruit. Many entrants used only high-quality natural ingredients to evoke powerful flavors. However, a Winter-Texan from Grand Rapids, MI, won the top honors for her pie's overall taste, creativity, and presentation from the following recipe.
Crust

• 1¼-Cup Graham-cracker crumbs
• 1/3-Cup well-chopped roasted almonds
• 1-Tbs sugar
• 1/3-Cup melted butter

Combine above ingredients and press into a buttered 9" pie plate. Bake for 10-minutes at 350-degrees. Remove and cool.
Cheese Layer

• 8-Oz cream cheese (soft; room temperature or warmed slightly)
• 2-Tbs sugar
• 1-Tbs Amaretto (imported liqueur from Italy; or another almond-flavored extract or liquor)

Cream the above ingredients together, and spread evenly over the crust.
Fruit Filling

• 3 Medium-sized almost seedless Star Ruby Grapefruit (or other Texas grapefruit; e.g., Rio Star, Rio Red, Ruby Red etc)

Peel fruit deeply enough to remove the white pith. Separate the sections from their outer membranes with a sharp knife, and drain them on paper towels. Arrange whole pieces nicely over the cream cheese layer.
Glaze

• ½-Cup or more of apricot preserves
• 1-Tbs Amaretto (or other almond-flavored extract or liquor)

Liquify the preserves by warming them in a small pan. Remove from heat. Add the liquor and gently mix it in. Cool slightly before spoon-pouring it over the fruits. Cover and chill.
Serve this pie as is, without further topping. Actually, however, these servings can be topped with whipped cream or something similar if desired. Yum! Nothing like more garnish to go with the highly enhanced flavors.
Conclusion. Pie lovers can see the intriguing mixed flavors in this one. Apricot preserves and grapefruit alone have their own welcoming strong flavors. But mixed together with an almond-extract liquor. Amazing!
No wonder this pie maker won both "The Best Grapefruit Pie" overall and "The Judges Choice" awards. The judges seemed to think this recipe combination is perfectly tasty - or much better. For more information on Amaretto and other grapefruit recipes, see these websites.

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