Black Bottom Strawberry Cream Pie

I took one of those recipe books that you pick up at the checkout at the grocery store when I was with my mom and she looked through it. She saw this pie and asked if I could make it, and I thought that it would be a nice dessert for Thanksgiving. I’m not the biggest pumpkin pie fan, although I like it a lot more than I used to. This sounded nice and more refreshing. I was worried a little bit about finding fresh strawberries in November, but they are actually pretty easy to find!

This being a Pillsbury recipe, it uses a lot of processed foods. Now, I use ready-made pie crust sometimes, as I just don’t have the time to make it or want to mess up the dishes. But the fudge ice cream topping and the strawberry pie glaze just wouldn’t do. Have you looked at the ingredients for strawberry pie glaze? It’s mainly high-fructose corn syrup and food coloring. I don’t consider myself a food snob, but there are some things that are easy enough to improve on. I made chocolate ganache for the fudge ice cream topping and my own pie glaze. The pie glaze makes more than you need for this pie, but it would be tasty served over ice cream.

This was not hard to put together, but I will not kid you: it messes up a ton of dishes! I found some of the quantities in the original recipe to be off. The recipe called for 2 cups of strawberries to cover the pie, and I found that only covered 2/3 of the pie. Measuring strawberries is not an exact science, so maybe that was the difference. At any rate, we all enjoyed this pie on Thanksgiving. It was nice and refreshing after a big dinner. Strawberries and chocolate always pair well together, and this pie is no exception.

Black Bottom Strawberry Cream Pie

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup strawberries, quartered and crushed

¾ cup water

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

½ cup heavy cream

Piecrust for a 9” single crust pie

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

3-1/2 cups strawberries, quartered

1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped

Make the strawberry glaze: in a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the strawberries and water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once at the boil, cook and stir for three minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Make the chocolate ganache: place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat the cream to just boiling. Pour the cream on top of the chocolate and allow to set for 5 minutes. Whisk until combined. Allow to cool and thicken.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Roll out pie crust to fit a 9” pie plate. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for about 15 minutes.

Spread 2/3 cup cooled ganache in bottom of cooled pie shell. Refrigerate 1 hour.

In a mixer bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Carefully spread over chocolate layer in shell. In medium bowl, gently mix strawberries and 3/4 cup glaze (use any remaining glaze for another recipe). Spoon the strawberries evenly over the cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Just before serving, top with whipped cream. Store in the refrigerator.

Recipe adapted from Pillsbury

Strawberry Pie Glaze recipe from Taste of Home