Fresh strawberry pie has been a summer staple in my house for what seems like forever. But, I always took shortcuts – premade graham cracker crust and the tub o’ glaze that you usually find sitting next to the berries. Still good, but deep down I yearned to make one completely from scratch. So, when we had that large haul of strawberries a couple weeks ago – I turned to my trusty friends at Cook’s Illustrated, and did just that.

Aaand, I can safely say, I’ll never go back to the pre-made ingredients. Being accustomed to graham cracker for so long, I was afraid that the strawberry pie and pastry crust wouldn’t “mesh well”. So wrong! The crust was perfect. Just the right amount of sweetness, it reminded me of shortbread. Also, it held up under the weight of all those glorious strawberries. The graham crust would always buckle upon serving the first slice. The glaze was glorious as well, using a combination of pureed berries to achieve that gorgeous red color, as well as a small amount of low-sugar pectin (make sure you get the pink box!) to get it to set-up slightly. Then you toss it with big juicy berries, pile them into into the blind baked crust – perfection. I liked serving mine with a little dollop of sweetened whipped cream on top.

I can’t say for certain, as the months are still young, but I think this may just be one of my favorite desserts this summer!