Strawberry pie can be made in various ways, including with a baked bottom crust and minimally cooked strawberries, layered on top of custard, or between two pie crusts. Thickeners like cornstarch, flour, or tapioca can be added to prevent the juice from overflowing. Strawberry and rhubarb can also be cooked together for a tart-to-sweet combination. Non-baked versions include using a premade crust or cooking the strawberries on the stovetop.
Strawberry pie comes in many delicious variations. Some recipes are very simply a baked bottom crust piled high with minimally cooked strawberries. Strawberries can be coated in simple syrup for added sweetness. This can be served with cream or ice cream and can be a painless experience to make. Other times, a strawberry pie has strawberries layered on top of custard, which are then topped with whipping cream.
The classic strawberry pie is made using sliced strawberries between two pie crusts. Such pies may feature a lattice crust, and if you’re using fresh strawberries, you’ll want to give the berries time to sit in sugar and lemon juice to sweeten. Perhaps even more essential than the strawberries themselves, it’s learning how to make sure the juice doesn’t escape the cake in large quantities.
If you’re not using a prepared pie filling, we recommend adding adequate amounts of any of the following: cornstarch, flour, or tapioca. These are thickeners, which will help keep the juices from overflowing the cake. The flour makes a thicker juice that is opaque, and the cornstarch and tapioca will help the strawberries make a clear red juice. Each has its own merits and you can choose which one you generally prefer to use. Other people use gelatin to thicken strawberry filling.
A common variation with strawberry pie is to use rhubarb and strawberry cooked together. These thicken well and provide a tart-to-sweet combination that just calls for the addition of vanilla ice cream. When you cook your strawberries or strawberries and rhubarb together, it helps the filling stay thick rather than runny. The cooking time will also be shorter, since you’ve pre-cooked your ingredients, and if you want a shortcut, you can use the strawberry rhubarb pie filling.
One of the major problems with making two strawberry shortcakes is that the top crust may overcook as the strawberries go soggy. To avoid this, many people recommend baking a pie with a crust or using a few decorative crust pieces on top of the strawberry filling. A lattice crust will also cook more quickly and may be a better choice.
There are other ways to make strawberry shortcake that aren’t baked versions. You can use a premade graham cracker crust and combine strawberries with whipped cream or whipped toppings to fill the crust. You can add whole or sliced strawberries on top if you like.
You can also bake a bottom crust ahead of time and then cook the strawberries on the stovetop. Spread the cooked strawberries into the cake and drizzle with whipped topping. Alternatively, use a half-and-half method, where the top half of the pie contains whole strawberries and the bottom is filled with strawberry pie.
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