Strawberry Icebox Pie
Okay LatinoFoodie Nation, I love to bake, but I’ll be honest with you: I’m still learning the science of baking. Make no mistake, the temperature of your kitchen, the moisture in the air and the type of flour used all determine the outcome of your final product. So the highly anticipated oohs, and ahhhs, can quickly turn into the sound of somebody choking on a dry cake or howling in pain at a chipped tooth. I take baking seriously, but in the heat of summer, I don’t have the patience to weigh and measure. That’s where this next recipe comes into play.
Sipping my agua de papaya on a lazy afternoon, I was flipping through an old copy of Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food (June 2009) and was struck by inspiration. Martha has a recipe for Strawberry Icebox Pie that looks scrumptious. With strawberries in the peak of their season (read: flavorful & cheap), I decided to bring some LatinoFoodie flair to this classic summer treat without breaking a sweat.
LatinoFoodie Strawberry Icebox Pie
For Pie Crust
1 sleeve of Marias Galletas
3 Wedges (or to taste) Finely Grated/chopped Ibarra Chocolate (or other Mexican chocolate)
2 Tbspn Sugar (Note on the sugar: you’ll need 1 Cup Sugar total for this recipe so go ahead and grab it now and separate it out as you go)
5 Tbspn unsalted butter, melted
Preheat Oven to 350
Blend Cookies, chocolate & 2 Tbspn sugar in food processor until finely ground (this is where grating the chocolate first helps you out, though there is nothing wrong with a few small chunks of Mexican Chocolate in your crust.)
Add butter & pulse until crumbs are moistened
Press moistened crumbs into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan (you can use a regular pie pan like I first did but a spring-form pan will make it easy to serve.)
Bake until golden, 12-15 minutes
Cool completely
For Pie Filling
¾ Cup Sugar
½ Cup unsweetened Jamaica or unsweetened cranberry juice
2 Quarts strawberries, hulled & thinly sliced (leave a few for garnishing if you like but make sure you hide them in the back of the fridge so they don’t get tossed accidentally into a summer salad when you’re not looking as in my case.)
¼ Cup cornstarch (this is used for thickening of course so don’t cheap out by substituting double the flour because you won’t have enough cooking time to cook out the flour taste as happened in one of my tests…I added more liquid & sugar to that one and it was an “okay” pie, but we’re not going for “okay.”)
¼ Tsp salt
In a medium saucepan combine ¾ cups sugar, cranberry juice, 2 cups of strawberries, cornstarch & salt
Mash strawberries gently and bring to boil.
Reduce to a simmer, stirring frequently until very thick, about a minute.
Remove from heat & allow to cool slightly.
Once slightly cooled, stir in the remaining strawberries & pour into the cooled pie crust.
Cover with foil & refrigerate until set, about 4 hours.
For Whipped Topping
½ Cup heavy cream/
2 Tbspn Sugar
Ibarra Chocolate (Optional)
Fresh Whole Strawberries (Optional)
Whip heavy cream until soft peaks form, add remaining sugar (2 Tbspn) & whip back to soft peaks.
Spread whipped cream over pie, leaving an inch border around the edge (to show off your beautiful filling underneath)
Optional:
Grate the Mexican chocolate directly onto the whipped topping. (Sadly not pictured here)
Garnish with strawberries (if they survived the dinner salad)
Serves 8
Total time: 50 Minutes + Chilling
