This Strawberry Pie features fresh, uncooked, strawberries. The pie is finished with a homemade glaze, made with pureed strawberries. The glaze highlights the sweetness of the berries. The pie crust is tender and buttery– and has a secret ingredient that makes this the perfect pie crust.
I feel so blessed to live in a rural area that grows some of the best strawberries you can find. When spring is around the corner, I’m already anticipating buying lots of strawberries to make homemade preserves, cake, salad. The list is endless!
If you look at my Recipe Index, I have a variety of strawberry recipes. With the exception of Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie, I try not to cook strawberries– only because I prefer the fresh taste of them. I want to enjoy the firm and sweet juicy flavor of these summer berries.
I used Cook’s Illustrated’s Vodka-Based pie crust recipe. Vodka? Yes, that’s right. You can’t taste the alcohol, and it’s safe to serve to children. Trust me. Here’s what Cook’s Illustrated has to say about the recipe they developed:
For a pie dough recipe that baked up tender and flaky and rolled out
easily every time, we found a magic ingredient: vodka. Using vodka,
which is just 60 percent water, gave us an easy-to-roll crust recipe
with less gluten and no alcohol flavor, since the alcohol vaporizes in
the oven.
We begin with a combination of butter and shortening. I use my food processor, but if you don’t have one– I grate frozen butter. It’s a great little trick!
If you buy store bought pie crusts., I hope that you will try making your own. Store bought pie cannot compete with scratch crust, and you will never go back! It’s really not that difficult, except that you do need a good rolling pin. The key to successful homemade pie crusts, is using cold ingredients. You don’t want to overwork the dough, and you want to let the dough rest– too much gluten = tough pie crust.
Once the butter and shortening are “cut” into the flour, a combination of cold vodka and water is added. The dough is folded together, until it clings.
I plop the dough onto plastic wrap, and then shape it into a disk, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. I actually made this crust a day ahead of our party. When ready to make the crust. I remove it from the refrigerator and get ready to roll the dough on a generously floured surface. I prefer a silicone mat.
Fresh Strawberry Pie (and a Buttery Pie Crust)
Ingredients
PIE CRUST:
- 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4-ounces), plus more for work surface, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 3/4-stick (cold), cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening about 1 3/4-ounces, chilled, cut into 4 pieces
- 2 tablespoons vodka cold
- 2 tablespoons cold water
STRAWBERRY PIE:
- 4 pints fresh strawberries about 3-pounds, gently rinsed and dried, hulled
- 3/4 cup sugar 5 1/4-ounces
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Sure-Jell for low-sugar recipes
- Generous pinch table salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
WHIPPED CREAM:
- 1 cup cold heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
Pie crust:
- Process 3/4 cup flour, salt, and sugar together in food processor until combined, about two 1-second pulses.
- Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 10 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds with some very small pieces of butter remaining, but there should be no uncoated flour).
- Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade.
- Add 1/2 cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
- Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.
- Flatten dough into 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
Blind Baking the crust:
- Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack, and heat oven to 425°F.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured (up to ¼ cup) work surface to 12-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick.
- Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side.
- Working around circumference, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with 1 hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Leave overhanging dough in place; refrigerate until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.
- Trim overhang to 1/2-inch beyond lip of pie plate. Fold overhang under itself; folded edge should be flush with edge of pie plate. Flute dough or press tines of fork against dough to flatten against rim of pie plate. Refrigerate dough-lined plate until firm, about 15 minutes.
- Remove pie plate from refrigerator, line crust with foil, and fill with pie weights or pennies. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove foil and weights, rotate plate, and bake for 5 to 10 additional minutes, until crust is golden brown and crisp. Let cool to room temperature.
For the fresh strawberry "filling":
- Select 6 ounces misshapen, underripe, or otherwise unattractive berries, halving those that are large; you should have about 1 1/2 cups. In food processor, process berries to smooth puree, 20 to 30 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed. You should have about ¾ cup puree.
- Whisk sugar, cornstarch, Sure-Jell, and salt in medium saucepan. Stir in berry puree, making sure to scrape corners of pan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with heatproof rubber spatula, and bring to full boil.
- Boil, scraping bottom and sides of pan to prevent scorching, for 2 minutes to ensure that cornstarch is fully cooked (mixture will appear frothy when it first reaches boil, then will darken and thicken with further cooking). Transfer to large bowl and stir in lemon juice. Let cool to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, pick over remaining berries and measure out 2 pounds of most attractive ones; halve only extra-large berries.
- Add berries to bowl with glaze and fold gently with rubber spatula until berries are evenly coated.
- Scoop berries into pie shell, piling into mound. If any cut sides face up on top, turn them face down. If necessary, rearrange berries so that holes are filled and mound looks attractive. Refrigerate pie until chilled, about 2 hours. Serve within 5 hours of chilling.
Whipping cream:
- Just before serving, beat cream and sugar with electric mixer on low speed until small bubbles form, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium; continue beating until beaters leave trail, about 30 additional seconds. Increase speed to high; continue beating until cream is smooth, thick, and nearly doubled in volume and forms soft peaks, 30 to 60 seconds.
- NOTE: I prefer to use confectioner's sugar, as it stabilizes the whipped cream longer, and I add about 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
Notes
Nutrition
Life happens1 Blogging is time consuming. I have found myself struggling too, work is tiring and there are days when there is simply not enough hours in the day. Welcome back!
Strawberry pie looks divine! Maybe not easy to cut but still divine!
Velva
Good luck with the knee surgery Debby. I'm sure you'll be back to normal in no time. In the meantime we're here and always will be. I've been up to my eyeballs in other stuff and barely can get my weekly post done.
The strawberry pie looks like just the thing to smooth away your worries. Sounds like your husband is a jewel too.
Sam
I'm not a big dessert eater but I love strawberry pie and yours look great. Good luck with the knee replacement – I have one looming and hoping some miracle technique comes along before I have to.
I read somewhere that strawberries here are ready. So bring on the desserts. Also all the best with your surgery. As I mentioned I work with an orthopaedic surgeon so know that it will all be OK in the end.
This pie looks scrumptious!! (I think pie slices are meant to be a delicious mess.) 🙂
Welcome back to the hectic world of blogging! xo
Oh no! I am terribly sorry to hear you must undergo surgery. I hear you about the concern over the post-op pain. I really HEAR you. I just underwent surgery on my shoulder, my second. I think THAT I (perhaps lots of us) tend to magnify my recollection of pain. Since I can not actually summon up the pain, my very active imagination gets busier than usual, summoning up exaggerated recollections. I surely did that this time around.
While I will not say it was a breeze, it has thus far been nowhere near as difficult as I had expected.
I sounds like your knee has been through a great deal. I hope you get a great result and speedy recovery from your surgery.
My, but that is one gorgeous pie! I'll have to try the Cook's Illustrated Vodka Pie Crust. I remember when they published it, I was quite intrigued and meant to give it a go. Thanks for the push.
I've never had great success cutting perfect slices of Strawberry Pie, perhaps owing to the fact that I tend to go light on the "glue!" However, no one complains! I think Strawberry Pie is the classic summer dessert, and yours is spectacular, super tempting. Your photos and direction are ultra- clear. Nice work!!
Best wishes for an easy surgery, a rapid recovery and successful rehab!
Debby, your strawberry pie looks amazing! You have been missed these past 3 weeks…best wishes for a speedy recovery. I am no stranger to the operating room myself, having had about a dozen or so surgeries (including 2 open-heart surgeries). Will send positive thoughts your way over the coming weeks!
Good luck darling! I'm sure you'll recover from the surgery beautifully and better than ever!
I wondered "where" you were, almost sent an email to check on you. Sorry to hear about the need for surgery, I'm in the same boat and dread the post op pain since I'm a wuss. My friend who has fibro had a knee replacement and is doing splendidly as I'm sure you'll do!
That pie is indeed a show stopper and with such fresh berries…mmmm!
I wanted to second that this pie is sooooooooo good!!!!! We also love their Cook's Country Icebox Strawberry Pie, which is quite a different style using sliced strawberries and gelatin. I have made them both twice each; this is my fav and the other is my husband's fav, but we both love both, and I can't imagine anyone not loving a slice of this pie!