(I originally posted this tutorial last spring, after the torrential rains had killed all of the berries for the year. I’m reposting it now before berry season in hopes that it will be a little more helpful now!)Once when Russ and I were almost engaged, we were at his sister in law’s house. (Which is a whole other story, which involves Russ introducing me as “some girl in my ward!”) His sister in law’s sister made a strawberry pie and it was so beautiful. I was completely intimidated. How did she do that? How did she get the filling stuff to be so clear and smooth? It was beyond me.
Several years after we were married my neighbor brought me a strawberry pie. When I confessed to her that I didn’t know how to make one myself, she also brought me her recipe. It was the beginning of strawberry pie happiness every May for the Ray family. Moving here made it even better—the berries that you pick yourself in the field are generally so much better and sweeter than those you can buy in the store.
Here are my directions for making a very delicious strawberry pie.
Start with a crust. You can make or buy a graham cracker crust, or make or buy a traditional pie-dough crust. I usually make mine because I live so far from the store and it would take longer to go buy a crust than to just make one. And I only use Crisco in my pie crusts. (Cause my pie-making aunt told me long ago that it makes a big difference.)
Whatever kind of crust you’re having, follow the directions and bake it. My directions had me prick the crust all over with a fork and then bake at 375 for 8 minutes.
While the crust is baking, make the glaze. Mash or chop or puree strawberries until you have 1 cup. Mix 1 cup sugar and 3T cornstarch together in a bowl, and then gradually mix into the strawberries. Then add 1/2 cup water. Cook this until it boils for 1 minute. I do this in my microwave, either in my big glass bowl or in my 4 c. glass measure, stirring once or twice. If you do it on the stove top you have to stir it a lot, and I’m not a fan of stirring! After it boils for a minute, set it aside and let it cool.
Next, soften about 3 oz. cream cheese. Mix 1 T. sugar with it and 1-2 T. milk. (You can use more sugar if you like.) When the crust is cool, spread this mixture over the bottom of the crust.
When I wash my berries I separate them into two or three groups. The first is the really nice berries, that are going to be just fine being put into the pie. You don’t want these to be ready to go soft because then you couldn’t have strawberry pie for breakfast the next three mornings, and that would be a tragedy. I lay these on a (clean) kitchen towel so that they can be drying off. The next group are the berries that aren’t quite perfect but still are in pretty good shape. Some of these I will chop and put sugar on to serve on cheesecake or strawberry shortcake. The last group are the berries that are only just barely still good. These go into the bowl to get smushed right away. These are great to use in the glaze, which is going to be cooked, or in jam.
While my glaze is cooling and after I’ve spread the cream cheese in the pie crust I start putting the berries in. The berries that go on the bottom 2-3 layers I slice in half, and then lay in the pie cut side up. This is because it’s easier to eat the pie when the berries are cut, but if you put them cut side down the juice will make the crust soggy, and that’s no good. So cut side up it is.
After a layer of berries I spread on some of the glaze, then put another layer of berries, then another layer of glaze. If the berries are small I might put 3 layers of cut berries and then finish with a layer of whole berries on top of the last layer of glaze. If the berries are bigger than I put only 2 layers of cut berries.
Serve with yummy whipped cream and hide some of it from your family so that you can have it for breakfast tomorrow!
PS. We had been married for several years before I confessed my feelings of strawberry pie inadequacy to Russ. He told me then that the beautiful perfectly clear and smooth glaze that had been used on that strawberry pie so long ago was a package from the store. All those years I’d been feeling so inadequate, and it turned out that she had just opened a package!
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