Mister and I have made a summer resolution to rise extra early and get out of the house. Our first day of practicing this resolution was to go strawberry picking as soon as the farm opened up. There’s only so much time left for these sweet summer babies. We froze some for smoothies, ate a whole bunch out of hand, and used the rest in this scrumptious pie.

I should really be getting ready for our first farmer’s market of the season, which is tomorrow from 9-1 on Cambridge St., but I really wanted to get this recipe up for the weekend for all of you fellow pickers out there! Hope to see you at the market if your here. We’ll have a bunch of wild bouquets, garden lilies, some of our heirloom veggies and herbs, and all of our usual pantry items and botanical skin care.

That’s all for now, off I go to pack everything up for the market. Happy berry filled weekend friends!

Strawberry Icebox Pie

I love this no-bake filling because you taste the freshness of the just picked berries. It's heavenly with coconut ice cream, which I made, but was not ready at camera time.

print recipe

Servings: 9" pie

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Pastry Crust
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
5 tablespoons vegan shortening I used nutiva brand
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
ice water
pinch of salt optional
Strawberry Filling
2 1/2 lb fresh strawberries 2 1/2 quarts
1 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons powdered agar agar which is a sea vegetable
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Prepare the Crust:

Preheat oven to 350˚F.
In a mixing bowl, stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening and olive oil until mixture is in pea-sized crumbles. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time, stirring with a fork, until dough comes together into a ball. (The amount of water needed is always changing, as it is dependent on the humidity and temperature at the time).
Roll out dough to 1/4" thick on a well floured surface. Use rolling pin to roll up crust and transfer it to a pie plate. Trim overhanging dough to 1". Tuck the outer edge under and crimp crust all the way around.
Prick bottom and sides of crust with a fork. Use pie weights or dried beans in parchment or foil to hold crust in place and to keep it from puffing.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until cooked completely through. Cool to room temp before filling.

Prepare Strawberry Filling:

Clean and hull berries. Puree 1/2 lb of berries in a blender to make 1 cup of puree. Quarter the remaining 2 lbs of berries and add them to pie shell.
Bring strawberry puree, maple syrup, agar agar, and vanilla to a boil in a saucepan, and reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes. Whisk mixture to ensure it is smooth.

Assemble Pie:

Remove strawberry puree from heat and pour over berries in the pie shell. Refrigerate pie until filling is set and gelled, about 2 hours.
Slice and serve with whipped coconut cream or ice cream. Now taste pure summer!