America's Test Kitchen's Fresh Strawberry Pie

By srumbel

I dare say this is the perfect strawberry pie recipe. I love that it doesn’t use Jello. I don’t really like fake strawberry flavor (and you are paying for all those berries, you might as well taste that!) and I love that you can either use just fresh berries if you have a lot or a combination of fresh and frozen, which is a real budget saver if berries aren’t at their peak and cheap. I can’t wait until you make this pie!
from blessthismessplease.com

Ingredients

• For the Filling
• 2 pounds frozen strawberries
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced thin
• pinch salt
• 1 (9-inch) pie shell, baked and cooled
• For the Topping
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy cream

Preparation

Step 1

Cook the frozen berries in large pan over medium-low heat until berries begin to release juice, about 3 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring frequently, until thick and jam like, about 25 minutes, you should have about 2 cups of liquid in the end.

Combine lemon juice, water, and gelatin in small bowl. Let stand until gelatin is softened and mixture has thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir gelatin mixture, sugar, and salt into cooked berry mixture and return to simmer, about 2 minutes. Transfer to bowl and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

Fold the fresh berries into filling. Spread evenly in pie shell and refrigerate until set, about 4 hours. (Filled pie can be refrigerated for 24 hours.)

With electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth, about 30 seconds. With mixer running, add cream and whip until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes.

Serve pie with whipped cream topping.

To make with all fresh berries: substitute the 2 pounds of frozen berries for 2 pounds of fresh berries (that have been hulled and sliced in half). Place the fresh berries in the pan, add the sugar at this point (and not later when you add the gelatin), and crush the berries lightly with a potato masher to help release the juices before cooking them for the 25 minutes.

Notes

Using frozen berries is very cost effective but if you have lots of fresh, it is excellent too.

I didn't slice the second (1 pound) of berries and instead I just cut them in half. This looked nice but they pieces were too big to eat in one bite. It won't look quiet the same, but I recommend slicing the fresh berries more than I did for a more pleasant eating experience.