Marie’s Strawberry Pie with Cornflake Crust

We have been friends with a wonderful older couple for quite some time…she is 89 and he is 93. I go to their house once a week and help them with household chores. We visit a lot while I am there and she always prepares a lovely, yummy lunch for us. One week she made this special pie. Reece was with me that day and we came home raving about Marie’s pie. I recently asked for the recipe and she happily shared it with me, although she couldn’t find the original and had to tell me how to make it by memory and shared her memories of the pie as well…of serving it at a club meeting of some sort and the club president loved it so much that he teased the club for three months by posting a little bit of the recipe at a time in their newsletter until the entire recipe was posted. She is one of the most creative people I know and this pie seemed like a good post for “creativity unleashed”.

Here’s what you will need:

1 lb. of strawberries
9 oz. cornflakes (I made two pies from an 18 oz. box, but you could use more or less and still get good results)
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
2 T. sugar and 1/4 c. sugar
2 pkts. unflavored gelatin
2 c. HEAVY whipping cream
2-3 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla (Marie said “a dash”)

All measurements are MOL (more or less) and can be adjusted according to what you have on hand and still get a great pie. This pie isn’t rocket science!

Start off with crushing the cornflakes. I did this by opening the bag a tiny bit at the top to let the air out and then rolling it with a rolling pin. It’s okay if there a few flakey bits left, just try to get them crushed up mostly.

Add 2 T. sugar to the cornflakes and pour into a bowl. Melt the stick of butter and pour over the flakes/sugar and mix thoroughly. Press into a buttered pie dish. It may look like a lot of crust and that’s OKAY. The crust is what makes this pie so fabulous! Bake the crust for 12 minutes or so at 375…you want it slightly browned, but be careful not to burn it! While it is cooking…mix the gelatin packets into 1/2 c. boiling water and stir, stir, stir until the gelatin is dissolved; set aside to cool. Wash the strawberries, reserve a couple for garnish, then chop and add 1/4 cup of sugar to them (MOL depending on sweetness of the berries).  Set everything aside while the pie crusts are cooling, letting the sugar and berries blend and the gelatin cool.

Start whipping your cream. While it whips (if you have a stand mixer and can walk away), add the gelatin mixture to the strawberries. It will look like this:

Add lemon juice and vanilla to this mixture, stir.

Once your whipped cream is stiff, like this…

… fold the strawberry mixture into the cream. Plop the mixture into your pie crust, garnish with the reserved berries and ENJOY! The crust is CRUMBLY and that’s okay, just scoop it out anyway onto the plate. I may try to work on that aspect of it at some point, but right now I’m enjoying it the way my friend made it.

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