Strawberry-licious!

Tonight we were having guests for dinner and I wanted to make a nice dessert.  But in keeping with the experimenting-in-the-kitchen mood I’ve been in lately, I wanted a new recipe.  And because of the cartons of beautiful strawberries in the refrigerator needing to be eaten, I wanted a strawberry recipe.

Thank heavens for Google, who directed me to a Better Homes & Gardens page of strawberry desserts.  After browsing the options and considering what ingredients I actually had on hand, I settled on Strawberry Chiffon Pie.  And let me say, I was not disappointed.  Yum, yum, yum.  Perhaps not yum in the way of the crack brownies I made for book club a few weeks ago (and couldn’t stop eating), but yum in a way both delicious and not terribly guilt inducing. 

Just in case you have some strawberries sitting around needing to be made into a dessert, here’s the recipe.  And if you don’t have some strawberries, go get them.  You won’t regret it, I promise!

(not my picture—doesn’t it look yummy!)

 

 

Strawberry Chiffon Pie

Ingredients

• 1  recipe  Baked Pastry Shell
• 1  envelope  unflavored gelatin
• 3/4  cup  sugar
• 1/3  cup  water
• 3    egg yolks, beaten
• 3  tablespoons  lemon juice
•   Dash  salt
• 2-1/2  cups  fresh strawberries, crushed (about 1-1/2 cups after crushing)
• 3/4  cup  whipping cream
•     Halved fresh strawberries (optional)

Directions

1. Prepare Baked Pastry Shell; set aside. In a small saucepan combine gelatin and sugar. Stir in water, egg yolks, lemon juice, and salt. Cook and stir over medium heat until boiling; remove from heat. Transfer gelatin mixture to a large bowl; stir in crushed strawberries. Cover and chill for 1 to 1-1/4 hours or until mixture is partially set (consistency of unbeaten egg whites), stirring occasionally.

2. In a chilled large mixing bowl, beat the whipping cream with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into strawberry mixture. If necessary, cover and chill about 20 minutes or until mixture mounds when spooned. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or until filling is firm. If desired, garnish with halved strawberries.

3. Makes 8 slices

 

 

PS—I chopped my berries in the food processor because I wasn’t in the mood to crush them.  I also used graham cracker crust because I knew that’s what my kids would prefer, and it was good.  But I can tell that next time I make it I’m making it with a regular crust, because I like those better.  Yum, yum!  (Did I already say that??)