Strawberry Pie - for Mother's Day or Birthday's

Growing up we had a family tradtion that when it was your birthday Mom would make whatever we wanted for our Birthday Dinner. She would also make the dessert of our choice for our birthday cake. As the years passed by our favorite desserts became obvious. Strawberry pie was the favorite. Both my sister and my brother would pick it for their birthday dessert. I was known to have picked it several times and there are even photos of dad going for Strawberry Pie too!

Watch out for people eating your strawbs before the pie is done!

The recipe is so simple and since us kids loved it I see no reason to hold back my mom's recipe. Please note that this pie isn't just great for birthday's. Mother's day, bbq's, 4th of July, Father's day or just something fresh and sweet on a hot summery day.

The Recipe:

Strawberry Pie

Makes: 1 9" pie or about 6 mini pies (ramikin)

Ingredients:

1 pie crust

2 pints of strawberries (a hold full or two extra never hurts)

3 Tbsp. corn starch 

1 cup of sugar

To start you can make your own pie curst or get the pillsbury pie dough crust. Place pie dough in a greased pie dish and poke with a fork. Place in the oven according to direction or at 350 degree F until the crust starts to turn golden brown. Let the crust cool.

While you're baking your pie crust wash your berries, de-stem and cut in halves. Take 1 pint of berries (about 2 cups) and put in a saucepan. Crush them with a mash-potatoe thingy. Place over medium to high heat (depending on how much time you have). Mix together the sugar and cornstarch and then add to the mashed strawberries. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and let boil for a few minutes. Then you can remove it from the heat. As the mixtures cools it will thicken.

Place the rest of your berries in the cooled pie crust and then pour your mashed starwberry mixture. Let cool or place in your refrigerator before eating. Then Enjoy!!!

Recipe Note: if your mashed strawberry mixture isn't thickening up then add more cornstarch or let it boil a bit longer. To add candles just stick them into big strawberries so they don't fall over.