Using Strawberries

There was a recipe for strawberry honey pie on Kristen's lovely blog and I thought I really must give it a try. We have so many strawberries ripening in the garden that it would be a good way to use some up. So I went for it at the weekend. As well as making the pink elderflower cordial!

First I needed a pie crust already baked blind. I was in a hurry so I just bought the shortcrust pastry and then baked it. I know, it wasn't a great job, but it was going to be filled and the not-so-pretty bits covered.

Some of the strawberries were to be mashed. I just used a fork to do the mashing.

This strawberry mush was then put in a pot with honey to be heated and thickened using the cornflour mixture. It seemed like it was never going to thicken and then suddenly it was done.

Next the cream cheese was beaten with a little bit of honey. 

Now came the assembling of the pie. The cream cheese mixture was first to go into the crust.

 

The remaining strawberries were sliced and layered on top of the cream cheese.

And finally the thickened strawberry mush was put on top.

Thank you Kristen for this great recipe. The pie was easy to make and totally delicious. Even my dad said it was excellent. Now that's very high praise indeed coming from him. Usually the best I get is 'alright'! Not that he doesn't like my cooking or baking; it's just that he is probably right and reserves his superlatives to be used on the right occasion. We are very quick to say something is awesome or magnificent when really these are not the right way to describe whatever it is we're talking about. I hope you know what I mean!

Here's Kristen's recipe with conversion done for UK readers. This is approximate but the amounts don't need to be perfectly accurate to work in this recipe.

Strawberry Honey Pie

1.5 litres strawberries (I measured mine in a large jug)
 
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon honey to mix with the strawberries - A

2 teaspoons honey for the cream cheese - B

(or 13 tablespoons sugar for the strawberries (A) + 2 teaspoons sugar for the cream cheese (B), if you don't want to use honey)

2½ tablespoons cornflour

250g (or 300g is fine)  package cream cheese, softened

1 baked 9” pastry crust

Make your favourite pastry crust, and bake it blind. While it cools, wash, hull and mash 300 mls of strawberries (i.e. use about 20% of your strawberries for mashing). Wash and hull the remaining berries and set them aside. Mix honey A and mashed berries in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring. Mix the cornflour with 8 tablespoons of water and whisk it into the berry mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Cool. Beat the cream cheese until smooth with honey B. Spread the cream cheese mixture into the cooled crust. Fill with the remaining whole or sliced berries, arranging them in circles, and then pour the cooked berry mixture over the top. Refrigerate 3 hours, or until well chilled.

Now for a confession. The strawberry honey pie was a success but trying to dry some strawberries was not.

I sliced the strawberries and laid them out nicely on a piece of baking parchment on top of a large baking sheet. I was just guessing how long it would take to dry them and what sort of temperature it would require. So I put the baking sheet into the warming oven of the Aga but after four hours the strawberries were nowhere near dried. By this time I was ready for bed so I just left them in the oven to see what would happen. In the morning the strawberries were certainly dry. Extremely dry. And black. They went straight into the bin, sadly. Ah well, at least the pie was good and there was still some left to feast on!

The raspberries have just started to ripen so I wonder could I replace the strawberries in this recipe with raspberries. Must try it. I love raspberries ... even more than strawberries.

Just to let you know; I've finished all the white motifs for the Blossom Shawl and have started making the dangly bits. I wasn't at all happy with how it was looking but I've made a bit of a change and I think it will work out fine.

All the best for now.