Strawberry Pie {National Strawberry Day, February 27}

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I really wish I knew how I started in on finding out what national day it was… I spent a whole afternoon looking up dates here recently. It’s actually kind of fun to see all the weird, interesting, National day holidays. And today happens to be:
  • National Kahlua Day
  • National Polar Bear Day
  • and
  • National Strawberry Day

And then on a fun side note, this morning when I turned on tv, Mickey Mouse was helping the giant and he had a belly ache from eating “too many strawberries.” How fitting!

Yesterday we went to Sam’s and bought some beautiful strawberries. Fun fact about Strawberries and it’s not really a fun fact about strawberries but more so about strawberries involving me… When my mom was pregnant with me, there were 3 grocery stores in town. She craved strawberries and cool whip but felt guilty going every day to buy that, so she would bounce between the three grocery stores so they didn’t look at her every day and feel sorry for the poor pregnant lady. lol. They always joked they were surprised I didn’t come up red or with strawberry hair. Instead I came out purple but that’s another story for another day…..

So anyway, back to the strawberries. When we bought the strawberries, I thought it would be fun to make a strawberry pie. I recently saw one on Facebook that looked amazing, but when I went through the ingredients yesterday, I didn’t have some of the ingredients on hand so I went with my mom’s trusty Strawberry Pie recipe. It was so worth it!

It calls for a pie crust. I just made a quick and easy one out of butter, flour and sugar. If you have your own favorite, I won’t tell!

Now the corn starch mixture will only be a whiteish clear color. If you want it to be red, make sure to add a couple drops of food coloring. That will help it change to that pretty pink color. And if you don’t want the food coloring, don’t add it. Simple as that! 😀

It’s really cool because you add butter to the mixture. Everything is better with butter, right? By the way, this weekend my aunt was telling us about putting butter in coffee. I’ve heard that before and my mom and Mark kind of thought it was weird, but just think…. Butter is made from churning cream so it gives you that creaminess. Now she said you had to put it in a blender to really mix it in, that was new to me, but I have heard of people doing that. I guess now I need to try it to say I’ve at least tried it once… wish me luck!

Strawberry colored goo 😀.

Mom’s recipe calls for a heaping cup of strawberries. A cup is 8 oz. I went with 16 minutes like 6 strawberries because well it might be a secret… I like strawberries 😋

The hardest part after staying out of the strawberries was waiting for the pie to chill in the fridge. I only lasted about 20 minutes. I would suggest closer to like a couple hours so it’s nice and cold, but I didn’t have time for that. I wanted Strawberry Pie! You’ll be happy to know though, for really wanting strawberry pie, I only ate the one piece. So I have a few pieces left over… Who is coming over 😁

Want a few tips on keeping Strawberries fresh? I’m so glad you asked. Thanks to Southern Living Magazine I can help 😀.

  • Storing
    • Ripe berries taste best when stored at room temp up to 2 days.
    • They’ll keep 5-7 days when placed in the fridge crisper.
    • Remove berries from their original container and arrange in a single layer on a paper towel lined tray or plate.
    • Discard bad berries daily because mold spreads like wildfire.
  • Washing
    • Strawberries soak up water like crazy, and wet berries will quickly turn mush
      • wash them right before using under cool running water, then pat dry
      • remove the caps after they are washed.
  • Freezing
    • Place washed, capped, and dried berries in a single layer on a jelly roll pan in your freezer for about 30 minutes in a single layer.
    • Once the berries are frozen, place in a frozen freezer bag or bowl in the freezer.
    • Take berries out as needed.

Strawberry Pie
Crust:

  • 1 c flour
  • 1/2 c (1 stick) salted butter, softened
  • 3 tbsp sugar

Strawberry Pie:

  • 1 c sugar
  • 4 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 c water
  • 1/2 stick (1/4 c) butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 8-16oz strawberries, stemmed and halved
  • Food coloring (optional)

Mix:
Lightly grease (I prefer Baker’s Joy) pie pan and set aside. Mix butter, sugar, and flour together. Press into prepared pie pan. Bake 375˚K for 10 minutes or until cooked and lightly browned. Cool.

Meanwhile While the pie crust is baking, make the filling.

Bring sugar, cornstarch and water to a boil, boil until clear. Add in butter and water. Mix well. This is where you add the red food coloring as well as the strawberries won’t color the cornstarch/sugar mixture. Cool. Once mixture is cooled (because if not, it will cook the strawberries….) add in strawberry halves. Pour into baked pie shell and chill.

Top with a dollop of whipped cream and enjoy!

 

*Pulled from my old blog Paved Dirt Roads

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