Homemade Strawberry Pie

It's no secret, I adore Cook's Country - America's Test Kitchen - Cook's Illustrated recipes and when I watched this episode with my mom we were left drooling (no surprise there) over this homemade recipe.  


At then end of the episode they prompt you to go to their website for the recipe...which I immediately did.  Guess what?  You need to subscribe to view it.  Tricksters.  I prefer buying the books rather than the magazine or online subscription, so I RAN to the book both Mom and I own.  No luck.  The recipe wasn't in the 2001-2011 t.v. show publication.  


I grabbed my trusty composition notebook where I jot down all things food related (and I happen to travel to my parent's house with it...always good food cookin' there) and we started to talk out the recipe.  Or, what we could remember.  


Strawberries have been unusually inexpensive lately.  I bought six pounds, knowing if I screwed it up, we weren't out much and hey, my kids can put back strawberries like nobody's business.  If you are in the mood to make a 100% homemade strawberry pie, this is a good one!!! 


The original recipe called for frozen strawberries to make the glaze, but I had recently made a strawberry sauce out of frozen strawberries and was left with a pinkish sauce, not a vibrant red sauce that was shown on the episode.  I'm guessing the frozen strawberries they purchased were nice quality=expensive and I had perfect fresh strawberries to use instead. 


Note~ Typical to strawberry pies, it is best to serve this red beauty the day it is prepared.  The next day our pie reminded me a bit of Cinderella at the stroke of midnight...every bit as sweet and wonderful, but not looking so great anymore.  Though it looked less than perfect, it still tasted delicious!  Being such a rustic pie, the berries will not stay perfectly in place when slices are cut, but the taste will win you over.   


Homemade Strawberry Pie
recipe adapted by Stella B's Kitchen & Mom from viewing Cook's Country t.v. episode, 2012
printer friendly version


9 inch pie crust
4 pounds strawberries, divided
1 cup sugar
1 package gelatin
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream plus 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar or topping suggestion below


Prepare one 9 inch Never Fail Pie Crust, blind bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes lined with parchment and pie weights (I use dry beans).  Remove parchment and weights once crust no longer appears shiny and bake another 5 minutes until barely golden brown.  Cool.


For the strawberry glaze:
Cook 2 pounds fresh strawberries over medium heat in a heavy saucepan until they reduce to about 2 cups.  It will be pretty thick!  This will take about 30 minutes or so.  Stir occasionally.


Add 1 cup sugar to strawberries.  Bloom 1 package gelatin in 2 Tbsp lemon juice and 2 Tbsp water for 5 minutes.  Stir gelatin mixture into sugar and strawberries.  Allow to cool slightly.  


Clean and cut 2 remaining pounds of strawberries (or about 3 cups).  Pour fresh strawberries into glaze mixture and gently stir to coat.  Pour strawberries and glaze into prepared pie crust.  Refrigerate and allow to set up for about 4 hours.  


Serve with sweetened whipped cream.  


The show suggested a topping of:
4 ounces cream cheese
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups heavy cream


Beat cream cheese with sugar and vanilla.  Pour in heavy cream and beat stiff.






sharing with: CrazyForCrust, Mandy'sRecipeBox, TheWinthropChronicles,  MommyByDayCrafterByNight,  CookingWithKaryn,  FlourMeWithLove,  NaptimeCreations,  CraftyConfessions,    MakingTheWorldCuter,   HandmadeTuesdays,  TuesdayTimeOut,    Serendipity&Spice, RaeGunRamblings,   OopseyDaisy, WhatILearnedWednesday, TrendyTreehouse,  Sugar&Dots, GingerSnapCrafts, LaughLove&Craft,  LadyBehindTheCurtain, PolkaDotsOnParade,   SomethingSwanky, CraftyBlogStalker, Michelle'sTastyCreations, TheCountryCook, WhipperBerry, BubblyNatureCreations, BaconTimeWithTheHungryHungryHypo, DaysOfChalk&Chocolate,