Fourth of July

Fresh Strawberry Pie

April 10, 2021
4.4
9 Ratings
Photo by Posie Harwood
  • Makes one 9-inch pie
Author Notes

This pie comes by way of Land o' Lakes: In my quest to find excellent back-of-the-box recipes, I found this pie which is perfect for summer baking, as it cooks half the berries and leaves the other half fresh, maintaining their texture and flavor and combining that with all the good parts of jammy, sugary cooked berries. I love the sturdiness of a flaky, classic pie crust, but feel free to sub a graham cracker or shortbread cookie crust if you want something simpler. —Posie (Harwood) Brien

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the crust
  • 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 8 tablespoons very cold butter
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons ice cold water
  • For the filling + topping
  • 5 cups strawberries, hulled
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  2. In a large bowl or food processor, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Once mixed, cut in the butter in chunks until the mixture is in coarse crumbs. Drizzle in the vinegar and ice water and mix until the dough just comes together. Add more water as needed if the dough is too dry. Press the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 1 hour (you can also make it ahead and freeze it).
  3. Roll out the dough to a 10-inch round, and transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate. Crimp the edges of the crust, prick the bottom and sides with a fork, and then freeze for at least 10 minutes.
  4. Line the crust with foil or parchment and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the foil and weights, and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the crust is a light golden brown. Remove and let cool fully.
  5. Mash 1 cup of the berries lightly with a fork or wooden spoon. Add 1/2 cup water.
  6. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, and mashed strawberry/water mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, and come to a full boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and salt. Let cool for 15 minutes.
  7. Fold the remaining strawberries into the cooked strawberry mixture, then pour into the cooled pie crust (if you want a neater presentation, you can arrange the fresh berries whole in the pie crust then pour the cooked berry mixture over them). Chill the pie for at least 1 hour to let the filling set, or simply let it sit at room temperature for an hour or two.
  8. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream (I like to fold in some lemon zest here too), or vanilla ice cream.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Smaug
    Smaug
  • Judy Sennesh
    Judy Sennesh
  • marigael
    marigael
  • jakilah
    jakilah

9 Reviews

marigael May 28, 2022
I made as directions indicated. I do not like the texture of cornstarch thickened fruit filling. The recipe described the berries as jammy. Not mine! But, I do make jam and I really like the texture of a strawberry jam so my next attempt will be substituting Sure Jell for the cornstarch with one cup of the chopped berries and 4 cups of large sliced berries.
 
jakilah March 20, 2022
i suggest making a cornstarch flurry with the water, otherwise you risk your cornstarch clumping up as you cook the filling. i had to throw it out and start over so learn from my mistake.
 
Linda September 20, 2020
I think I would use part ORANGE ZEST along with the lemon......
 
Kansas May 24, 2020
My 10 year old and I made this with berries fresh from the patch. In a word - delicious! 🍓🥧
 
Smaug November 29, 2019
As so often happens when I read "new" dessert recipes, this one struck me as something I'd done decades ago from one of Maida Heatter's recipes.
this is basically the Strawberry Tart from her New Book of Great Desserts (1980). That recipe has more strawberry puree, and uses gelatin as well as cornstarch to set it. It also skips the vanilla, which I think is a better idea. If you can actually get decent strawberries (which is increasingly difficult if you don't grow them) it makes a magnificent dessert.
 
sarah June 17, 2019
This tasted good but my filling didn't set very well. I sliced my uncooked berries (like the picture). Maybe that made them give off too much juice?
 
bette July 3, 2016
Can I do mixed berries?
 
Judy S. July 15, 2016
Yes. I've been doing this with blueberries for years.
 
witloof July 3, 2016
This looks great. I think Nigella Lawson captured my feelings about cooked strawberries perfectly when she remarked that they have the texture of dead slugs.