In yet another post a bit related to my friend Alex’s birthday, this pie is one his mother made for his birthday that I really really liked! The cranberries aren’t overwhelmingly tart, but enough to balance out the sweetness of sugar and strawberries. This crust is vegan, and I sort of made a mess flopping it into the dish, but you can also use any other crust you already know you’re good at.

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 4 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 2 cups frozen cranberries (for some reason I thought these would be hard to find, but they were just right there with all the other frozen fruit)
• 1 cup raw sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• pinch of salt

Flaky Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shortening

• water (or 1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water, if not vegan)
• extra raw sugar for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 375 and position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Combine all the filling ingredients in a large bowl (or a bag, if you’re baking taking it to someone else’s house to bake), and set aside.

PHOTOGENIC

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt of the crust in a food process and pulse briefly to combine. Add the shortening and process until the whole mass comes together. You don’t need any water in this crust – the shortening is enough to hold everything together. Also, because it’s shortening, chilling it doesn’t make it firm up, so there’s not much point chilling the dough as you would a standard pie crust.

Divide the dough into two portions, one slightly larger than the other. Roll out the smaller piece of dough between two pieces of wax paper into a 13″ round, about 1/8″ thick, and line a 9 1/2″ glass pie plate with it.

Spoon the filling into the crust.

Roll the other piece of dough into a 12″ round, and cover the filling. Trim the excess dough and crimp the edges. Brush the top with water (or the egg wash, for a glossier brown top) and sprinkle with the extra sugar. Cut a few holes in the top for steam to vent.

Place the pie on a cookie sheet (forgot this step, regretted that mistake), and bake until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden brown, 1 1/2 – 2 hours. Mine took pretty much the full 2 to brown. Cover the edges with foil if they are browning must faster than the center, to keep them from burning.

The final, hardest step: Let cool 5 hours at room temperature before serving.

Mrs. King’s did, admittedly, turn out prettier, but either way, I’m a big fan of strawberry things and this fit the bill!

Prettier Pie!

Deep Dish Strawberry-Cranberry Pie

From Mrs. King!

Filling:

• 4 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 2 cups frozen cranberries
• 1 cup raw sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• pinch of salt

Flaky Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shortening

• water (or 1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water, if not vegan)
• extra raw sugar for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 375 and position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Combine all the filling ingredients in a large bowl, and set aside.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt of the crust in a food process and pulse briefly to combine. Add the shortening and process until the whole mass comes together.

Divide the dough into two portions, one slightly larger than the other. Roll out the smaller piece of dough between two pieces of wax paper into a 13″ round, about 1/8″ thick, and line a 9 1/2″ glass pie plate with it. Spoon the filling into the crust.

Roll the other piece of dough into a 12″ round, and cover the filling. Trim the excess dough and crimp the edges. Brush the top with water (or the egg wash, for a glossier brown top) and sprinkle with the extra sugar. Cut a few holes in the top for steam to vent.

Place the pie on a cookie sheet, and bake until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden brown, 1 1/2 – 2 hours. Cover the edges with foil if they are browning must faster than the center, to keep them from burning.

The final, hardest step: Let cool 5 hours at room temperature before serving.