Joel's aunt is a phenomenal pie maker - we're talking blue ribbons at the county fair, bake-off awards & so on. For a house warming gift, she sent us a pie pan, a rolling pin & a book of pie recipes. Needless to say, I was excited to give it a shot.
This pie was AWESOME!!!! Light, fluffy & melt-in-your-mouth delicious. There's fruit in it too, so you don't have to feel too guilty having 2 [or 7] slices. ;)
Recipe & more pictures below!
Mile High Strawberry Pie
Crust
For 1 9-inch shell.
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 c vegetable shortening
3-4 T cold water
Preheat oven to 425.
Mix the flour & salt in a large bowl. Add in the shortening &, using both hands, break it into pieces, keeping it coated with flour - you want to keep everything light & dry, with small lumps & flakes of flour-coated shortening. I picked up small pieces & rub them between my hands to break them up, using lots of flour.
Once you have a bowl of small crumbs, add in the water 1 tablespoon at a time with a fork. You want it to become a solid dough. It's better too wet than too dry.
Put onto a floured surface, flour your rolling pin & slowly roll into a circle, about 11 inches across. [Mine was decidedly NOT a circle].
Carefully transfer the crust to your pan, either gently lifting it, or rolling it onto the pin, then unrolling on the pan.
Trim the edges & flute the crust. I did this by pinching the dough with two fingers & using my thumbs on the opposite side to create a ridge [See the picture below.]
Liberally poke with a fork to keep the crush from puffing up too much. Line the sides & bottom of the crust with tin foil. Bake for about 6 minutes until the edges looks dry, then remove tin foil & bake another 6 minutes or so, until the crust looks dry & is slightly brown all over.
Remove. Set aside. Turn off the oven.
Strawberry filling
4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
2/3 c sugar
1 1/4 c (10 oz) frozen strawberries, with juice, thawed
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 c heavy whipping cream
Beat egg whites & salt with an electric mixer until they stand in soft peaks when you lift the blender. Keep beating while adding in the sugar, until you have stiff, firm peaks.
Add in sliced strawberries [I forgot this part & had to fish them out after I added them... Whoops!] & lemon juice & beat until the filling is billowy & fluffy!
In another bowl, beat heavy cream until it is thick & about the consistency of the strawberry mix. Fold together. Fill pie crust. Chill a few hours before serving.
My notes
Have I mentioned how delicious this was??? SO good.
A standing mixer would have really been helpful - my little three speed mixer did the job, but it took a very long time. I don't think my strawberries were totally thawed either - the mix started to separate after a few hours. Regardless, it was really great & definitely something I'll be making again.
Enjoy!!!!
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