A Pie Per Week: Strawberry Pie

Henscratch Farms

Brian:  Angie and I decided to keep the pie blog going, even though we are on vacation.  However, as I am a huge Indiana University basketball fan, I was sorely needed at the TV today.  I thought we may be celebrating the team's season instead of a victory based on how we were playing, but I'm happy they won.  I think it is only fitting that we have a Cream and Crimson colored pie today.  :)

Brian's dad and Aunt Sue's granddaughter

Brian Celebrates the IU Victory

Angie:  This was definitely primarily a solo venture today, but we did have some family fun.  My inlaws live in Sebring, Florida, and we always are sure to visit Henscratch Farms.  Henscratch Farms is a winery that sells jellies, jams, chow chow, and other local food items.  Fortunately for us, they also offer the ability to go and pick your own strawberries.

Brian:  Henscratch features lots of live farm animals, including chickens that they have roaming freely.  They offer little cups of food that you can feed the chickens with, and that is always lots of fun with the kids.  They also have a pig named Harley.  We went today with my mom and dad, my twin brother, two of my aunts.  My Aunt Sue also brought her granddaughter, and we all had a really good time.  I also got a chance to learn what muscadine and scuppernong jelly are.  Muscadine is a red grape variety and scuppernong is a white grape variety, and that is the short version.  Yay useless trivia!

The inside view of a paper bag full of strawberries.

Angie:  After we picked the strawberries, although we did get a fair amount, we did not have enough for the amount of pies we had planned.  So we ventured out to a farmstand to augment are handpicked varieties. We also made the decision to go with a store bought crust, just because we were on the road.  We have heard of a recipe made by one of the local residents that features an egg, and I'm not leaving here without it!

Brian:  The rest of the pie making was all Angie.  I helped preheat the oven and did get some of the crusts out of the oven, but Angie did the rest.  In my defense, IU really, really needed me to cheer for them.

Strawberries in the Pie Shell

Angie:  We ended up with 4 quarts of strawberries.  I washed and cut the tops off of all of them.  Then I took whole berries and placed them in the pre-baked pie shells.  I really wish I'd made them from scratch as they would have tasted so much better, I will definitely make them the next time!  I took the remaining strawberries and mashed them in a large saucepan with sugar and heated until boiling.  I added the water and cornstarch and simmered for 10 minutes then poured the mixture over the strawberries in the pie shells.  The other strawberry pies I've mostly seen are the ones with that big packet of glaze you buy in the produce department.  That glaze always tasted like those fluoride trays you get at the dentist, yuck.  Wow this is so much better!!

Mashing strawberries while adding sugar.

Adding the Cornstarch

Brian:  The picture of the pie looks soupy, but it really wasn't.  The flavor was good.  There is a famous cafeteria style restaurant in Indiana called Gray Brothers Cafeteria, and people always rave about the strawberry pie.  That pie does feature a sweeter tasting crust, and that combination with this strawberry pie recipe will be a winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Recipe from AllRecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked 1 quart fresh strawberries 1 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch 3/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Arrange half of strawberries in baked pastry shell. Mash remaining berries and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
2.	In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into boiling strawberry mixture. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour mixture over berries in pastry shell. Chill for several hours before serving.

Pie Recipients of the week go to Brian's family, that we have talked about throughout.  The picking of the strawberries, and the eating of the pie, made a great family day.  The nice warm temperatures helped as well, as there is snow on the ground in Indiana, as we are having an unseasonably cold Spring.

Brian's twin brother Brent, and his mother Kathleen.

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