Strawberry Pie from Betty Crocker WWII Era Cookbook
The farmers’ market that I go to is overflowing with strawberries right now. I was quite surprised because they are usually in season in the late spring in my neck of the woods. By July, we have triple-digit temps and strawberries can’t handle the heat.
One of the Fourth of July BBQ guests brought a delicious cherry pie with her and that got me thinking about old fashioned fruit and berry pies. I decided I wanted to make a strawberry pie and found one in my WWII-era Betty Crocker cookbook before heading off to the market. When I bought the tray with 3 pints of berries in it, the farmer added another pint to the bag, no charge. What was I going to do with all of those extra strawberries??
Let me just say that fresh strawberries are soooooooo much tastier than supermarket and frozen strawberries. They are naturally sweet and just melt in your mouth. I think if people ate real food instead of supermarket food, we wouldn’t have an obesity problem from adding high-fructose-corn-syrup and sugar to everything.
I’m learning how to make pie pastry instead of relying on the Pillsbury roll-out pie crust. If you aren’t ready to try making the pastry, I think the roll-out crust is much better than the frozen crusts in an aluminum tin. To me, the frozen crusts always seem to have a metallic taste to them. I tried the Betty Crocker recipe from my vintage cookbook with great success. Click here for an updated version of the tried and true recipe. Using lard, butter, or shortening does change the flavor of the pastry. It is getting harder for me to find lard but I really do like the flavor of pie crusts made with lard. As with anything, just be careful to not overdo it. Lard isn’t exactly heart healthy but I think it is okay to use in moderation. The Betty Crocker recipe uses shortening. Crisco has reformulated their shortening to 0 grams of trans fat per serving, so I buy it. It is a little more expensive than the store brand but it does ease my conscious a little bit to use it. For the following recipe, you need a two crust pie.
Fresh Strawberry Pie (9″ Pie)
Preheat oven: 450*F.
1 cup sugar
5 tbs. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1. Wash strawberries, drain well.
2. Pick them over–remove over-ripe and bruised berries
3. Remove stems and hulls. Large strawberries should be halved.
4. Mix sugar, flour, and cinnamon together.
6. Pour into a pastry lined pie pan.
7. Dot with 1 1/3 tbsp. butter.
8. Cover with top crust. Cut slits into crust if you haven’t done so already.
9. Bake until crust is nicely browned and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust for 35 to 45 minutes in a hot oven (450* F).
Add to Google
[...] Modern Retro Woman Trying to Live Like My Grandmother in a Modern World « Fun with Strawberries: Vintage Pie Recipe [...]
What a yummy-looking pie, Julie-Ann! And thanks for letting us know that Crisco has a 0-trans fat option now.
[...] safe pie recipe from my World War II era Betty Crocker cookbook. It uses the same “Key Recipe” as the strawberry pie that I made last week. Most of the other recipes required almond extract that I didn’t seem [...]
I remember my mother’s excitement about 1960 when Betty Crocker came up with the idea of spreading a little cream cheese on the bottom of the crust. Three weeks ago I made a raspberry pie with 5 cups of raspberries from my own patch using that same concept.