Fresh berries are nothing like what you can buy in the supermarket. My son has turned in a little economist recently, comparing prices of groceries, particularly candy, wherever we go. He did not immediately understand why we would pay a premium for berries we had to pick ourselves. Then he tasted one. The blueberries and strawberries he loves, he realized travel, unready for harvest, often all the way from warmer climes when we are dealing with -25C here in Canada. The strawberries are partcularly shockingly different when you pick them yourself. I insist if you use Strawberries you pick yourself, always cut the sugar in half. Yes, half. Now Strawberries bleed, no matter what you do. These are runny pies, almost no matter what you do, unless you are using gelatine in those no bake pies, which I do not care for. But there are things you can do to help yourself. If you eat warm, you will have a runny Strawberry pie and that is ok. If you are trying to present to a dinner party, then bake the day before because really, for the pie to completely cool is about the best thing you can do to keep the pie sliceable. Also, I sprinkle a bit of sugar before to draw out some water to drain off. I do this because I do not want to lose all the flavour of the syrup that develops in the bowl later but I am willing to sacrifice a bit of extra sugar. When I make apple pie, my husband insists I leave out the water at the bottom. I refuse. I do this too where, I let the apples stand with a bit of sugar and a pinch of salt to get some of the water out :D.
Not the prettiest pie this time but it is delicious and baking with my kids is meant to be fun and not perfect.
Baked Strawberry and Granny Pie
2 Pie crusts home made OR, 1 frozen and one homemade.
8 cups whole strawberries or 6 cups hulled
1 Granny Smith apple
1/4 sugar (if bought in season, if not, add 2 more Tablespoons)
1/4t salt
1/2t vanilla
1/4c + 1T Corn Starch
Blind bake your bottom shell in a 375F oven for 15-18 minutes. I use pie weights (large dry beans on parchment or foil inside the tart shell) but you could dock the crust also but I find with berry tarts this just turns your bottom crust into mush. I would sooner just blind bake empty and poke the puffed up bits as I go than dock a berry pie shell. This is easier for me bc I do the blind baking in the toaster oven so no bending over and opening a hot oven. Set aside to cool.
Wash and hull the strawberries. I like to hull and put them a sieve over the sink to drain off excess water. Slice them half a cm thick or leave them whole. I like slicing them bc it is easier to eat in a pie. Dice the apple with the skin on, fine dice, like 1/2 cm cubes or slightly larger. I had to use them one year I didn't have rhubarb and it worked well and now I do this pie all the time. Place all the sliced fruit in a large mixing bowl with 2 T of sugar and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Then drain off the excess water.
Add the 1/4 Sugar (you can subtract 1T bc of the sugar you added earlier just to draw out the moisture or you can subtract 2T if you picked your strawberries and they are naturally sweeter than supermarket). Add the rest of the filling ingredients and toss well. What I do is use a very large bowl, I place the fruit in the bowl and add the zest and juice first. Toss by using the bowl, so as not to squash the berries with a spoon. Then I add the cornstarch a Tablespoon at a time to thoroughly coat the berries and start absorbing the water. I add the spices half way through. When all the cornstarch as been added, I do the same with the sugar. I do this because Sugar is a hydroscopic and will immediately draw out water and I want the berries to have a bit of a barrier and for that barrier to quickly absorb that water evenly. I added mint leaves, cut chiffonade because we have it in the garden and I think brightens the pie. I am not telling you to preheat the oven because I am not one of those blogs that assumes you are powering through this whole process and I hate to waste electricity or gas when I know the actual steps will take longer. All this stuff can wait so I would preheat the oven to 405F now.
Roll out your top crust if you are doing a lattice. Keep it cold bc it will be easier to handle. We did not in the photo above because I was coordinating a child. So the result was not pretty but DELICIOUS. If you are using a top crust or 2nd frozen pie shell which is totally respectable, you can. Just remember to poke a decent steam vent on top.
Fill the pie with the fruit mixture it just be barely heaping just barely if not level to the bottom crust. Strawberry pies will run over. I have done a mountainous blueberry pie (from fresh blueberries, not frozen. Frozen is fine but dont heap the berries. They will bleed and run out). The blueberries were forgiving on the heaping and the lava flow. When my husband did this pie he used too many berries and the pan we put the pie on was completely covered in syrup. Place the lattice on. You can weave them if you want but my daughter placed the lattice in the photo and I didnt want to overcomplicate this time.
Place in the oven and reduce to 400. Bake for 25 minutes in a baking sheet. Place your crust shield if you have one. I just bought a silicone one finally. I have been using foil for years. Reduce the oven to 355 and bake for another 30 minutes. Take out and remove the crust shield carefully. It will have syrup on it. you can wait 5 or 10 if you want. Then let stand on a rack for 3 hours or overnight. If you cant, it will likely be oozy... well really most strawberry pies with no gelatin or pectin will but runny no matter what.
Serve with Ice Cream and Whipped Cream.... or all by its delicious self.
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