A Happy 4th and Strawberry Pie

It was a rainy gloomy 4th, but the Guisingers sure had a fun 4th!   Complete with a barbecue and Amelia's first SPARKLERS!

I thought she would be afraid as I recall I didn't want to hold them as a kid, but not so!  Perhaps it was because we lacked a night sky???   We would have to stay up tip 1 am for darkness at this time of year...and that was not going to happen.  

We also had a delicious Strawberry Pie!

I will tell you my sister has an addiction to picking strawberries.  While back East, we joined her and my sister Donna for one of her many strawberry picking adventures...after a half hour, Amelia and I were done...she kept at it.  What was she going to make with all those strawberries??!  Pie.  

She made one and I commented on the sad looking crust...it was gone before dinner.  A reminder that 6 of the 8 kids were home, so that wasn't much of a surprise.  She made another and another...gone.  HUH?  Ok...I took a bite.  Pretty tasty.  Maybe not as good for 3 outings of strawberry picking, but good enough for me to ask for the recipe :)  

I am sure she would say mine is prettier!  

Rob said no whip...Amelia always with whip.

Yum and done.

Here is the recipe:

My pate brise crust is always my standby. I had two extra pie crust balls in the freezer. After thawing,  I baked it for 15 minutes with parchment paper over it and then 15 with it off.  I skipped the blind bake technique of weighing the crust down, as I am sure my sister did not do this...some shrinkage occurred but still a flaky crust!

Strawberry Glace Pie

6 cups fresh medium strawberries

¾ cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

One 9-inch Baked Pastry Shell

(see pate brise recipe below)

To prepare strawberry glaze:

In a small saucepan crush 1 cup of the berries

Add 1 cup water

Bring to a boil and simmer 2 minutes

Sieve berry mixture

Pour into separate glass/metal bowl.

In same saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch

Stir in sieved berry mixture

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly

until thickened and clear

Spread ¼ cup of the strawberry glaze over bottom and sides of Baked Pastry Shell.

Arrange ½ of the strawberries in pastry shell (recipe called for whole strawberries with stem end down, however, I just cut them all up as Amelia would have a better time eating them).

Carefully, spoon half of the remaining glaze over berries, thoroughly covering each berry. 

Arrange remaining strawberries, stem end down if whole,

atop first layer.

Spoon remaining glaze, covering each berry.

Chill pie at least 3 or 4 hours.

Uh..we ate it after 2 :)

 Pate Brise (makes 1 double crust or 2 single 9-10 inch pie crusts)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice water 

Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor until combined. 

Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.

With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube.  

Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky...

don't process more than 30 seconds.  

To test, squeeze a small amount together: 

 If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time

Divide dough into two equal balls.  Flatten each ball into a disk, and wrap in plastic.

Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 1 hour or overnight.  

Can store frozen up to 1 month.

Whenever the sun shines again, will take a few pics on our outside doings that have left me mosquito bite covered and sore!  Need to take a few pictures of our planting adventures too!

Stay tuned!