Granny's Strawberry Pie

By cindygwest

Ingredients

• For cookies and crust:
• 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 1 1/2 cups butter-flavored Crisco
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1 pie crust
• For topping:
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped
• For filling:
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 T. cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• 1 (3-ounce) package strawberry-flavored gelatin
• 1 quart fresh strawberries, stemmed and washed

Preparation

Step 1

1. A day in advance, make the cookie dough; Sift the flour with the baking soda, salt and 1 1/2 cups sugar into a bowl. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients until the mixture is the consistency of cornmeal.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and use hands to mix into a dough. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. The next day, preheat oven to 350. Roll out the dough on a floured work surface, then cut with a floured cookie cutter. Dust with extra sugar. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes and set aside to cool.
4. Reset the oven to 450 degrees and heat to temperature. Roll out the pie-crust dough and place into a 9-inch pie shell. Prick the bottom of the dough all over with a fork, line the shell with heavy-duty foil and fill with pie weights.
5. Bake shell for 8 minutes, then remove the weights and continue baking 5 to 6 minutes longer or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.
6. Make the topping: Beat the cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar in a bowl until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream.
7. Make the filliing: Combine 1 cup sugar and cornstarch in a medium pot. Stir in water until smooth, then bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring until slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in gelatin until dissolved, then let cool to room temperature.
8. Set aside three strawberries, slicing the rest in halves. Dip the halves into the gelatin mixture and place in cooled pie shell. Dip the three whole strawberries into the gelatin mixture and place in center of pie shell.
9. Use a pastry bag to pipe the topping around the outer edge of the pie crust. Crumble the cookies and scatter the crumbs over the cream-cheese topping. Serve.