Fresh Strawberry Cream Pie

This is one of my favorite recipes that has been in my family for ages! A homemade, buttery crust is the container for a thick layer of cream, fresh strawberries, and a jelly-like topping made with the juice from the berries! Easy, simple, and utterly delicious, this is the perfect tart to seasonal fruit. 

Originally posted in July 2013, this post has been updated with photos and text to serve you better. The recipe remains the same.

Since the strawberries at the market were surprisingly sweet and fat,  I decided to make my grandmother's strawberry pie. It's simple but full of flavor and has a delightful jello syrup on top made with the strawberries' own juices.

This is the strawberry pie I grew up with. Or almost. Because my grandmother made it only with sweetened sour cream and used cornstarch for the topping. It was easier to make, for sure, but I feel this version is fresher. 

The original version is found close to the end of the post, in case you want to make it that way. 

Either way, it's fabulous! 

Preparing the gelatin

I know many people don't want to use gelatin because they're afraid to mess up or think it's a complicated process. But in this recipe, it is hydrated in cold water and added to the hot juice. So you don't have to dissolve it by itself, which is the tricky part. 

Simple steps

The standard ratio to hydrate gelatin is 5:1, that is 5 parts of water for every 1 part of gelatin.
In this recipe, we use 1 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin so we have to hydrate it in 5 teaspoons of cold water (that is 2 tablespoons).

1. Add gelatin to water (image 1, below), making sure you scatter it as evenly as you can. Don't add it all in the same place because it will have a hard time absorbing the water. 
2. The gelatin slowly absorbs all the water (image 2).
3. When the powder has disappeared, it's ready to use (image 3).
4. Add it to the strawberry juiced that has been heated. It's important to either heat the gelatin and add it to a cold liquid or to heat the liquid and add the cold hydrated gelatin to it. The latter is easier because heating gelatin to dissolve it can be tricky sometimes. Then you have to let it stand until it begins to thicken (image 4).

Whipped cream

While you wait for the gelatin to thicken (above), you can whip the cream. 

Simple steps

• Cold ingredients: make sure both the cream and the sour cream are cold (image 1, below). Keep them in the refrigerator until ready to use. 
• Powdered sugar: add it to the cream (image 2). I like this type when whipping cream because it's softer and dissolves well. Sifting it before adding makes it easier to incorporate.
• Medium peaks: this is the point of the cream, how soft or firm we choose to whip it. I like medium peaks (image 3), which are still soft but hold themselves enough to accommodate the strawberries. Whipped cream firms up when refrigerated, so when you eat this strawberry pie it will have more structure. 
• Cream layer: add it to the baked cold pie shell, spreading evenly. 

Assembling

I like to assemble it a few hours before I plan to serve it and refrigerate it until that time. Why? Because the cream starts moistening the crust and I love that. 

I bake the sweet pie crust until it's golden and crunchy by itself. But putting it all together a few hours before makes for a crust that starts to soften while staying crunchy. But you can totally bake it to a softer stage and assemble it like a half hour before serving, so you give time to the gelatin topping (image below) to set. 

Gelatin topping

As explained before and in the recipe card, you need to mix the cold gelatin with the hot strawberry juice, let it dissolve, and then wait for it to thicken before adding to the tart (image below).

You can leave it at room t° and it will take some time, and that depends on the temperature of the room and of the gelatin mixture itself, or you can speed it up by refrigerating it. Be careful here because you need to stir it frequently while it's cooling in the fridge, otherwise the sides will solidify too much before the center is thick enough. 

• Important: you want to add the jello topping while thick and cool but still pourable. If it's too solid it won't cover the strawberries as it should. 

Original variation

As I told you at the beginning of this post, this is my grandmother's recipe and the original version is a tad different.

Pie crust: she uses a neutral pie dough, not a sweet one. Similar to the old-fashioned apple pies. If that's your favorite, we have a super detailed Basic Shortcurst Pastry post with video!

Sour cream: her recipe uses sweetened sour cream (no cream at all), which results in a tangy cream and doesn't require whipping. I changed that a bit because I feel most love strawberries and cream.

Cornstarch: if you don't like to use gelatin, a few teaspoons of cornstarch can be added to the strawberry juices and cooked until thickened, similar to lemon curd. But keep in mind that the finish will be a cloudy pink color, as the whiteness and starchness of the cornstarch overpower the bright color of the juice. It's still delicious. Either way, the flavor will come from fresh strawberries and that always beats artificially flavored jello.

Storing

My best recommendation is to eat it the day you make it. It will be fresh, and with a good crust. 

After that, keep in mind that, since this pie needs to be kept refrigerated,  the crust will get softer from the cream and strawberry juices that will seep in, but also dry out from the fridge, and the strawberries will wilt a little bit every day. 

All that said, we all have our personal palates and you might actually like it better the next day, who knows. 

Other strawberry recipes you might like:
Brown Sugar Strawberry Crisp
Easy Strawberry Trifle
The Best Strawberry Ice Cream (no-churn!)
Strawberry Passion Fruit Caipirinha (a cocktail)
Fresh Strawberry Buttermilk Scones

Let me know if you make this recipe! I’d love to hear what you think about it. Thank you for being here, I appreciate it! Let’s connect via Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

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