Strawberry Cream Pie

Holy deliciousness! This recipe takes time but is well worth the effort. It is sad that now-a-days most people will never ever get to eat a pie like this with home-made cream filling and sauce and fresh berries.It's kind of funny because in general I loath pie. Nasty cooked fruit and bland dry crust. YUCK! HOWEVER, this pie is not at all like the others because it is chilled and not cooked and I could eat it forever. It's like vanilla pudding with berries and the crust gives it a little crunch.

WARNING: Once you make this pie you might never be able to go back to the store-bought kind.

This pie has 3 elements. I have included here what you might need to buy at the store to make it
Crust (graham or regular)
Filling (whole milk and heavy whipping cream mix)
Topping (strawberries!)

First you need to make your crust. You can either buy one (cheater way, which I like because I dislike even the best normal pie crust. I buy a Graham cracker crust for me (the only kind I'll do) and make a real pie crust for my husband)

Here is a great recipe for crust if you want a light and flaky one. My Aunt Stacey taught me the techniques and it makes a killer crust. Those who like pie crust will go crazy for this!
1 C flour
1/4 t salt
1/3 C plus 1T shortening
2-3 T Ice water (the less, the better. I did 2 and my husband said it was awesome!)

SIFT flour and salt together. Sifting makes a difference! Cut in shortening until it is pea-sized. Sprinkle 1 T water and mix lightly. Repeat until just moistened, but NOT sticky. The trick is to mix as little as you can! Gather up dough with fingers and form a disk. Refrigerate at least 30 min.

Preheat oven to 425. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of wax paper, turning over and pulling paper off often when dough starts to stick. Roll from center of pie towards edges only. Take off top layer of wax paper and center dough over pie pan. Gently peel off paper and press dough down into pan. Fold and crimp edges. Poke a few holes with a fork. Bake 8-12 min or until golden brown.

Yeah, I know its a picky recipe, but then you get this:Now make your creamy pie filling! You will make most of it on the stove, and then fold whipped cream into it with vanilla. You will need:

For now:
1/2 C sugar
3 T cornstarch
3 T flour
1/2 t salt
2 C milk (use whole!)
1 egg

For later:
1/2 C heavy whipping cream
1 t vanilla

Mix top ingredients in a large pan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and stir until thick (happens pretty fast!) remove from heat. In a small bowl slightly beat an egg. While beating egg, slowly add 1 C of cooked mixture. This is called TEMPERING and it is important to do so you don;t end up with a bunch of cooked egg crap in your pudding. BLEH!

Add egg mixture back into pot and bring just to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat and dump into a bowl. Place plastic wrap over bowl pressing down on mixture and chill in refrigerator or in bowl of ice water.

Now make your sauce. You need:
1/2 cup strawberries, crushed
1/2 C. water
1/4 c. sugar

2 t cornstarchCrush strawberries. Add water and heat to boiling. Simmer 2 min. Strain juice into bowl and dump back in same saucepan. mix sugar and cornstarch and gradually add to saucepan. cook until thick and clear over medium heat. Cool.

BACK TO FILLING:
Whip the 1/2 C cream. When the other filling mixture has cooled fold in whipped cream and vanilla. Dump into pie crust. Arrange washed and cut strawberries to cover pie. Drizzle sauce over the top. Chill at least 3 hours.

Taste it. Love it. Devour it. Make more. =)