My Roots Are Showing Again! {Recipe: Fresh Strawberry Pie}

 

Anyone who hangs around this blog for any length of time will soon realize that strawberries are a favorite. I believe it's from my Oregon roots and it's been passed down to another generation, my kids love strawberries too! This recipe doesn't contain gelatin, so it is perfect for my vegetarian daughter. 

Fresh Strawberry Pie

1-9" pie crust, blind baked (I used the Sourdough Pie Crust found here: https://motheralwaystoldme.blogspot.com/2024/04/its-texture-thing-recipe-sourdough-   pie.html )

1-1/2 quarts fresh strawberries

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup water 

3 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Use about 2/3 of the whole strawberries to cover the bottom of the pie crust. Take the remaining strawberries (there should be 12-14 strawberries) and chop them up. In a medium size sauce pan, add chopped strawberries and sugar. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water; slowly add to the boiling strawberry sugar mixture. Reduce heat and continue to simmer until thickened, stirring constantly. Once thickened, stir in lemon juice and remove from. Pour mixture over strawberries in the pie crust and refrigerate until well chilled and set, about 3 hours. 

Serve on its own or with whipped cream. 

Makes 8 servings

Note: This pie looks the best the day it is made. It still tastes good after a couple of days, but the filling gets a bit cloudy.

Enjoy!

It's a Texture Thing {Recipe: Sourdough Pie Crust}

This sourdough pie crust has a lovely texture. The sourdough discard makes for a light, flaky, and a bit crispy crust. Initially I thought using discard might be a little too sour, but turns out to have a nice mellow flavor. It works well with sweet or savory pies. 

Sourdough Pie Crust

The key to making a flaky pie crust is making sure everything stays cold and being careful to not over work the dough. 

1 cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cold

2 teaspoons sugar

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup sourdough discard, cold

Ice cold water

In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt; set aside. Cut butter into small cube and add to flour mixture. Using fingers, pinch and press together butter into flour mixture until  butter is well distributed with pea to chickpea size pieces of butter throughout. Using a fork, stir in sourdough discard until just combined. The dough is ready when it forms a shaggy dough and will comes together and hold. If the dough crumbly and won't hold together, it is too dry. Add ice cold water a teaspoon at a time until a shaggy dough is formed. Form the dough into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. 

Recipe yields a single 9" pie crust, double recipe if a double crust is needed. 

Directions for blind baking a single pie crust:

Roll out dough to a 1/8" thickness; place in a 9" pie pan.  Trim around dough around the pie pan to about a 1" to 1-1/2" over hang*, fold under along the rim and crimp. Add pie weights (I have a pie weight purchased from William Sonoma, but lining the crust with a round of parchment and fill with dry rice or dried beans to 2/3 full will work as well), then chill for 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 375ºF about 10 minutes before pulling pie crust from the fridge. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven, lift out pie weights, and prick the bottom with a fork. Return to oven and bake an additional 10-20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. 

*Note: save the left over dough for other uses, like individual single pot pies. I had enough crust left to cover 2 pot pies made in ramekins.

Something to Be Proud Of {Recipe: Grandpa Dolph's Vanilla Ice Cream}

My father-in-law prided himself on his ice cream making ability. This is the 3rd ice cream recipe I have tried of his, the first two are his Coffee Ice Cream and Chocolate Ice Cream; both are in previous posts. He does have something to be proud of, every one we have tried has been delicious!  

Grandpa Dolph's Vanilla Ice Cream

This recipe is half of the original. Grandpa Dolph must have had a very large ice cream maker!

3 cups whole milk

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs, well beaten

2 cups heavy cream

1 tablespoon vanilla

In a medium size mixing bowl, mix together well beaten egg, sugar, flour, and salt; set aside. In a medium size sauce pan, scald milk to almost boiling (best to use a thermometer and heat to about 200ºF), then slowly whisk into egg mixture (be sure to start very slowly to prevent cooking the egg). Cook mixture in a double boiler* over medium heat and stirring constantly until mixture thickens, but do not boil. Remove from heat, strain, and cool in fridge until well chilled, about an hour. Once mixture has chilled stir in the vanilla. Whip the heavy cream until stiff, then fold in ice cream mixture until well blended. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.** 

Makes about 3 pints of ice cream. 

*I don't have a double boiler, so I use a metal mixing bowl set on top of a medium sauce pan filled with about 2 inches of water. You want to make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. 

**I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker that makes 2 pints. It worked to process the 3rd pint after the first 2. 

Enjoy!

Mother Daughter Breakfast {Recipe: Strawberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast for 2}

This recipe is for my daughter, it's one of her favorite ways to have French toast. She and I are the only ones in the family that like French toast this way, so it's perfect just for us!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast for 2

4 slices sandwich bread (if larger bread is used, this recipe would only make 1 serving)

4 tablespoons strawberry cream cheese spread

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

2 teaspoons maple syrup

pinch of salt

Powdered sugar

Fresh strawberries

Spread 2 slices of bread with 2 tablespoons cream cheese each (using frozen bread makes it easier to spread the cream cheese, especially if using a light white bread as shown), top with remaining two slices of bread and lightly press together; set aside. In a shallow bowl or pie plate, whisk together egg, milk, maple syrup and salt. Heat about a tablespoon of butter or cooking oil  a skillet or grill pan over medium-low heat. Dip cream cheese filled bread (if frozen bread, it should be thawed or mostly thawed) into the egg mixture, flip, making sure the bread is well coated with egg mixture. Place prepared bread in heated skillet or grill pan and cook until nicely browned, flip, and cook other side the same.  Dust with powder sugar and top with sliced fresh strawberries. Serve with warmed maple syrup.

Serves 2

Not an ad for Tillamook, we are just fans!

Enjoy!