Pick-your-own Triple-strawberry Cream Pie

Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr 15 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 large store-bought graham cracker crust
• 1 1/2 quarts fresh strawberries, hulled
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Recipe

• 1 prebake crust according to the package directions and letting it cool; refrigerate until ready to use.
• 2 halve half of the strawberries and put them in a big bowl.
• 3 stir in 1 tablespoon of the sugar and the lemon zest, then set aside for 10 minutes to juice.
• 4 using a large fork or potato masher, crush the juiced berries just enough to make a coarse puree; transfer mixture to a medium saucepan.
• 5 in a small bowl, mix the remaining sugar with the cornstarch; stir this mixture into the puree and gradually bring to a boil over medium heat.
• 6 cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture gently boils, thickens, and becomes translucent, about 1 minute after it starts to sputter.
• 7 scrape the sauce into a bowl and let cool thoroughly.
• 8 cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.
• 9 using a chilled medium-size bowl and chilled beaters, whip the cream using an electric mixer until it begins to thicken and hold soft peaks.
• 10 add in the powdered sugar and continue to beat until stiff but not grainy; fold in ½ cup of the strawberry sauce.
• 11 to assemble the pie: shortly before serving spread the remaining strawberry sauce over the bottom of the chilled pie shell.
• 12 halve the remaining strawberries (or quarter them if they are large) and arrange the berry pieces in a tight layer on top of the sauce.
• 13 if you run out of room, chop the remaining berries and strew them over the larger pieces.
• 14 spoon the strawberry whipped cream on top and smooth with the spoon.
• 15 serve immediately or put the pie in the freezer for up to 10 minutes (no longer) and serve as soon as possible.