Pi Day!

I would venture to say that most of you reading this are familiar with Mole Day, celebrating the Chemistry measurement known as a mole (6.02 x 10^23), which is celebrated on October 23rd.

I recently learned about a new day that I, as a math major, love...Pi Day! Pi is the irrational number that is commonly used with circles and in finding radian measures (mostly with Trig functions). The fun fact about pi is that it never terminates as a decimal; it literally has an infinite amount of decimals, but is commonly rounded off as 3.14, so it would only make sense to celebrate Pi Day on March 14th. In three years, it will be really cool because the two decimals following 14 are 15, making it 3.1415. So yes, on March 14, 2015, it will be the ultimate Pi Day!

 

Unfortuntately, I don't have a pie plate at school and I don't have adequate time to make a pie or else I would celebrate Pi Day by making a pie. However, I do have a recipe for an easy cheesecake pie floating around in my head, so enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 graham cracker crust (store bought or homemade)
8 oz. cream cheese (it doesn't have to be softened, but that might make it easier to beat)
1 C. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1-8 oz. carton Cool Whip, thawed
Desired toppings (fruit, chocolate chips, etc), optional

Instructions:
In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Blend in powdered sugar and vanilla. Fold in Cool Whip just until blended, but not too much, so that it won't lose its fluffy consistency. Spoon cream cheese mixture into graham cracker crust. You can serve it right away, but it might be better if you let it chill for about 30 minutes; either way is just fine.

Recipe Notes:
-In my experience, I have learned that the creaming/mixing process is much easier if you use a hand mixer or a Kitchen-Aid mixer. It isn't impossible otherwise, but it will take much longer.

-Depending on the size of the crust you have, it might be necessary to double the filling. If you buy a crust, the smaller sized crust will be perfect for 1 batch of filling. For the slightly bigger crust, it will probably take 2 batches of filling to get it full, unless you don't mind it being relatively empty.

-Use your imagination on toppings! Also, I have blended in chocolate chips or blueberries into the filling itself to give it a slightly different texture. Also, sometimes it is good to just let it stand alone. Use your judgement!

Happy Pi Day, everyone!!!