May 20, 2011
Strawberry Icebox Pie
Strawberries are America’s favorite summer fruit, hands down. Here, a graham-cracker crust holds a luscious strawberry filling topped with swells of sweetened whipped cream. To make the filling sliceable, some of the berries are briefly cooked with a small amount of cornstarch (and cranberry juice, to enhance the color); the rest are stirred in off heat. The result is a pie with a fresh, true strawberry flavor — and all the crumbly, creamy qualities of the best icebox desserts.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 12 graham cracker sheets (6 ounces), broken into pieces, or 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled, plus more for pie plate
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- Pinch of salt
For the filling:
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cranberry juice
- 2 quarts fresh strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced (reserve a few whole berries for garnish)
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup heavy cream
Directions
For the crust:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a 9-inch pie plate. In a food processor, pulse graham crackers until finely ground. In a bowl, combine crumbs, butter, sugar, and salt. Press mixture firmly and evenly into bottom and up sides of pie plate. Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. (Crust can be stored up to 1 day, loosely covered with foil, at room temperature.)
For the filling:
In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine ¾ cup sugar, the cranberry juice, 2 cups strawberries, the cornstarch, and salt. Using a potato masher, gently mash strawberries. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until very thick, about 1 minute.Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Stir in remaining sliced strawberries. Pour into baked, cooled crust. Refrigerate until set, 4 hours or, covered with plastic, up to 1 day.
In a large chilled bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over cream and continue to beat until soft peaks return (do not overbeat). Spread whipped cream over pie, leaving a 1 ½-inch border around edge. Garnish with reserved whole berries.