Homemade Strawberry Pie

   First off, I am not a baker.  Not in any kind of sense.  But I want to be one, at least a decent homemaker-type baker.  Simple breads, cakes, pies, etc. from scratch.  I can make yeast bread in the bread machine (why I don't make it all by hand is a future post), and simple from scratch quick breads, noodles (is that baking?), cakes and  cupcakes.  One thing I've never been able to do is pie.  It's not the filling that gets me, it's the crust.
   I offered to bring pie for our family's New Year's Eve party, since that was the only thing not covered.  I bought one pie from the store, and took it as an opportunity to challenge myself to homemade strawberry pie - the cold kind.  I don't know if that needs to be said, but I have had many two-crust hot strawberry, strawberry rhubarb, and strawberry-berry pies.

   Failure #1: Burnt pie crusts.

   This was totally my fault, and doesn't really have anything to do with bad baking skills so much as bad habits.  I had a box of Jiffy pie crust mix, which made 2 crusts.  Mixing was fine, though the crusts looked pretty sad once rolled out.  Did I mention I'm not a baker?  So I pop them in the oven, set the timer, call my Dad to chat……..and go upstairs where not only can I not hear the oven timer, but can't smell or see the smoke.  (Did she say smoke?) So there I am, chatting away, and the smoke alarm goes off. Seriously? I did that? Ugh. <shake my head at myself> I know better that that.  So, burnt things outside, ceiling fans on, windows open, smoke alarms reset.

   Okay, Take 2.  I pull out my new baking book, The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.

   I've actually had it for a few months, but hadn't got into it yet.  So I use the basic pie crust recipe. The newbie version with detailed instructions is on p. 46.  If you've been through the pie crust rodeo, see p. 54.  Right away I could tell the dough was turning out much better than the Jiffy mix.  *Nothing against Jiffy - I toured their factory here in Michigan and got an assortment of box mixes while I was there.  They have a nice, clean facility and they have wonderful people working there.  Back to the story - I added more flour this time around, and paid attention to the shape before I started rolling it out.  Oh, and I didn't leave the kitchen!  Much better.  I even had a enough extra for a little third crust.

   Then it was on to the filling. I probably should've started this first, since I started with frozen strawberries, but...oh well.  The recipe for the filling was in the same book (p. 83).  It calls for fresh mashed strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice to go in the pot, cook it, cool it, mix with sliced fresh strawberries, and fill the crusts.  Easy as…ha!…pie.  Since I started with frozen not fresh, I had to mash them up as they started to cook/thaw.

   So while my strawberries are cooking, I'm softening a brick of cream cheese and thawing the half the strawberries that get sliced.  I discovered frozen strawberries are a little tough on my food processor, so I'm letting them thaw.

   The strawberries mix in the pot start mostly white and thick, then gets thin as the sugar melts, then thickens and starts to look clear. Yummmmm….

   That looks about right.  I think.  Let's go with it.  Into the freezer for a quick cool down because, well, I didn't make this the day before - it's already 3 o'clock and this is for dinner.  While that is cooling, I work on a bonus to the pie I got from Dad.  A small layer of whipped cream cheese on the bottom of the crust.  Somewhere online I got the simple instructions for it. One brick of cream cheese, 1/4 c. milk, whip, done.

Failure #2: Homemade whipped cream cheese.

   I don't have a picture of this, but it was the consistency and texture of pancake batter.  Hm, well okay then, that didn't work.  Fine.  Do I really want to even put this in?  "Handsome Boy! Come to the kitchen and taste this!"  One spoon just strawberry, one spoon cheese stuff and strawberry.  The vote is a huge grin - cheese goes in.  So, okay.  I will pour it in the crusts and stick them in the freezer to harden before the filling goes in.  Perfecto - it worked!!  It looked like a nice glaze on the bottom.  Mix in the sliced (chopped) strawberries to the cooked stuff, pour into crusts, and…

   YUM! The little white dish was an extra bit from the mix fiasco, which went in so much later than the main two pie crusts that it didn't burn. So I had enough for two and a half and a quarter pies.  Into the freezer again for a bit, to stiffen up the filling, and then off to the party.

Failure # 2 1/2: Runny filling.

   I call this a half-failure, because it was delicious and no one cared that it ran.  It wasn't actually runny, but it didn't keep its shape when cut.  You know, like in the commercials, where nothing is like real life, or like when you cut a pie too soon after coming out of the oven.  I think it didn't chill enough in the crusts, or it needed to thicken up on the stove more, but those are easy fixes to try next time.  Bottom line is the kids and adults both loved it, and we didn't even use whipped cream on top.  Happy dance!

   So in the end I successfully made homemade, from scratch, strawberry pie.  I don't know if I can all myself a baker, but it's a step in the right direction.  I've gained the confidence of making pie crusts, and now I don't have to buy them anymore.

Joyfully yours,
K