This most recent recipe comes from the Sunday edition of the Portland Oregonian and was submitted by Leslie Cole. She notes that her mother made it, originally from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, every spring with California strawberries. Oregon strawberries are smaller but also sweeter, so require less sugar. They thrive in the hot summer months in southern Oregon, where I now live. A friend from my yoga class who raises strawberries says she gets tired of eating them by the end of the season. Imagine that!
I used California berries for this recipe, with 1/2 cup of sugar, sweet enough for mid-March strawberries that haven't yet reached their prime.
Fresh Strawberry Pie
4 cups fresh strawberries, washed, hulled. Slice larger ones in halves or quarters; save 10 whole berries for garnish
1/4 to 1/2 cup granulated sugar, depending on sweetness of berries
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
3 tablespoons strawberry Jell-O powder (can substitute unflavored gelatin if you don't like the added flavoring/color)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 to 3 drops almond extract, according to taste
1 baked 9-inch pie shell, cooled
1 cup whipping cream, 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla
Place sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan, add boiling water and cook over low heat, stirring until thickened. Remove from heat. When cooled, stir in Jell-O powder, lemon juice, and almond extract, mixing well. Put strawberries in a medium mixing bowl and thoroughly coat them with glaze. Pour filling into baked pie shell and chill for 2 hours or more.
Before serving, whip the cream with powdered sugar and vanilla. Cover pie with whipped cream mixture and garnish with whole berries.
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The ways to enjoy strawberries are as varied as individual imaginations can contrive. When perfectly ripe and sweet, the easiest method is to dip a whole berry into a bowl of powdered sugar and devour. Strawberries make refreshing sherbet, ice cream, or served in time-honored fashion with sugar and sweet cream. I like to eat strawberries topped with sour cream and brown sugar.
Which explains why my affection for strawberry pie has been replaced by the following recipe from my cousin, Marcia. An indefatigable recipe collector and cook, she and I have exchanged cooking ideas all of our adult lives. Whenever I visit her in southern California, Marcia can be found tweaking some new recipe to feed one of the large groups she favors with her culinary skills. I've never cooked for that many, and I marvel at the huge pots and pans in her kitchen and how easily she adjusts a recipe's ingredients to serve more.
My husband Rich always notices when I've added fresh strawberries to our grocery cart. He smiles and says, "Oh good … Dutch Babies." When first out of the oven, a Dutch Baby looks impressive, making even a novice home cook feel accomplished. This recipe serves four and leftovers, if there are any, reheat nicely. Ideal to serve for breakfast or dessert.
Dutch Baby (Scandinavian Pancake) with Fresh Strawberries (Marcia Cooley)
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar (8 tablespoons), divided use
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 cups strawberries, hulled, cleaned, and halved and mixed with 2 tablespoons sugar
Sour cream and brown sugar
Put butter in 9-inch cake or pie pan and place in oven set at 400 degrees. When oven reaches required temperature, the butter will be melted and bubbly.
During this time, beat together eggs, milk, flour, salt, and 6 tablespoons of sugar until smooth. Remove hot pan from oven and quickly pour in batter. Return to oven and bake for 30 minutes, until Dutch Baby is puffed and brown around edges and center firm.
Stir remaining sugar into strawberries. Serve pancake with strawberries, sour cream, and brown sugar.
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Mom didn't often eat fresh fruit as a snack, preferring it mixed into salads or wrapped in pastry. This may explain why she routinely added more than enough sugar to fruit. Once when I came for a visit, she had fixed a bowl of fresh strawberries for me, with so much sugar that the berries dissolved into overly sweet macerated pulp by the next morning.
I suspect that too much sugar may be the mystery behind her stubbornly runny strawberry pie glaze. Mom excelled at baking pies, never failing to produce perfectly browned, flaky crusts and delicious fillings, so her problem with strawberry pie has always puzzled me. The pies she usually made contained the typically Midwestern summer fruits, rhubarb or sour cherries. These fruits need plenty of sugar to make them palatable, so adding lots of it became her habit. Perhaps too much sugar prevented the strawberry pie glaze from setting. Most home cooks will admit to at least a few less-than-perfect results in the kitchen!
©2012 Margaret Cullison for SeniorWomen.com
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