Exquisite Strawberry Pie Recipe

The classic recipe for strawberry pie on shortbread pastry, with vanilla and amber rum custard cream. All the tastes associated with this pie are balanced against each other. Respect the proportions and the course of the recipe, and you will taste a pure delicacy!

Each element of the pie is prepared in advance, requiring no additional baking.

You will adapt the concentration of the vanilla and rum flavours in the custard cream according to the strength of the strawberry taste. Otherwise, the cream will take over, whereas a balance is needed. Here, the quantities are adjusted to the aroma of ripe strawberries.

Strawberries:

• 500 g fresh, ripe and sweet strawberries.

Ingredients for the shortbread dough:

• 180 g all-purpose wheat flour T65 type,
• 100 g soft butter with an ointment-like texture,
• 40 g egg (beat the egg, weigh and set the rest aside),
• 3 g fine salt,
• 70 g blond cane sugar to be ground into icing sugar (about 45 seconds in a blender/chopper),
• 25 g almond powder (or 3 g baking powder).

Ingredients for the custard cream:

• 250 g milk,
• 12 g corn starch,
• 12 g wheat flour,
• 40 g blond cane caster sugar,
• 40 g egg yolks (2 yolks),
• 2 g (1/2 teaspoon) powdered vanilla or 7.5 ml (1 1/2 teaspoons) liquid natural vanilla extract,
• 5 ml rum (1 teaspoon).

Shortbread dough:

In a small bowl, mix the icing sugar and almond powder. In another large bowl, combine the flour and soft butter with a blender at low speed. As soon as the mixture is powdery, it should not blend, add the egg and salt, and always mix at low speed. When the dough starts to agglomerate, add the icing sugar and almond powder mixture and stop mixing immediately as soon as the dough starts to agglomerate again. Take the dough out of the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and allow to rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours to overnight. Then roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 3 to 4 mm, forming a 29 cm diameter circle for a 27 cm diameter pie tin. When the dough is laid in the mould, prick the bottom of the dough with several strokes of a fork. Bake the dough (without anything on top) in the oven for 20 to 23 minutes at 150° in a fan assister oven, or 160° in a convection oven. Finally, let the dough cool down and remove from the mould.

Custard cream:

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar for less than 1 minute, then stir in the flour and corn starch to blend evenly. Warm the milk over medium heat (5/10). Pour the hot milk gently into the bowl mixture, whisk to blend. Transfer the mixture back into the saucepan and, without stopping whisking, warm over medium-high heat (7/10) until it begins to boil and turn off the heat immediately. Continue to stir. The cream thickens quickly in 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in vanilla and amber rum. Stir for a few more minutes until the texture of the cream develops threads. Cover a soup plate with plastic wrap of 50 cm long and 30 cm wide, pour the hot cream on top and cover with plastic wrap in contact with the cream (like a pouch) so that it does not cool in the air and does not form a crust. Chill the cream for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to one week in the refrigerator in its airtight pouch.

Assembly of the pie:

Wash the strawberries in cold water, cut off the leaves and stem, and dry. The shortbread pastry should be cold. Take the cream out of the refrigerator. Stir the cream with a spoon so that it becomes fluid again. Cover the pastry with custard and spread the strawberries over it.

Keep in a cool place before serving. The pie will be stored 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator.