March 14th is "Pi Day" - as well as Albert Einstein's Birthday! I'm not a huge math fan, but I like to celebrate any occasion that calls for food, so I decided to make a strawberry pie with a chocolate shell crust. It turned out perfectly refreshing. Recipe was adapted from
here. How I made it:
STRAWBERRY FILLING:
 |
| 1 1/2 LBS HALVED STRAWBERRIES |
|
 |
| 1/2 LB MASHED STRAWBERRIES |
|
 |
| 3/4 CUP WHITE SUGAR |
|
 |
| 3 TBSP CORNSTARCH |
|
Over medium high heat in a saucepan, I combined a 1/2 pound of mashed strawberries with white sugar, cornstarch and a 1/2 cup of water. I constantly mixed until the strawberries came to a boil, and continued to stir about 2-3 until the mixture thickened.
CRUST:
 |
| PRE-BAKED PIE CRUST |
|
 |
| "DOCKING" |
|
After pre-baking a pricked pie crust in the oven for 12 minutes at 375 degrees F, I melted a couple of ounces of bittersweet chocolate with whipping cream, and "painted" the melted chocolate onto the inside of the cooled crust. The chocolate adds a little something extra by satisfying my chocolate obsession and stopping the crust from becoming soggy. Best of both worlds!
After letting the chocolate layer set in the freezer for 10 minutes, I arranged the halved strawberries in the dish, covered with the mashed strawberry mixture, and let the pie cool in the refrigerator.
The pie was ready just in time for tonight's dessert. So delicious! I love the color combination of the dark chocolate and the bright red strawberries. Can't wait to have another slice for breakfast tomorrow.
- Sam
