The Great American Pie Tour

As Easy as Eating Pie

---

As presented in Grafton's Valley Messenger. Read Latest Edition

---

In case you’ve just joined us: One of our regular customers told us he longs to drive across the United States, stop at diners along the road and just eat pie. Oh boy, what a great trip that would be! But, we thought, why go all the way to the States when we could do that right here in South Grafton!

This is a tour of America’s most beloved food: pie.

Strawberry Pie with Chocolate, Chocolate Painted Crust

Favoured by Queens, Gods, and the Rest of Us Plebeians

It is said that Queen Elizabeth I’s fondness for fruit tarts marked the very beginnings of strawberry pie in the1500s. However, strew-berries, as they were called for the berries strewn around the leaves, were cultivated in ancient Rome.

Because of its red colour and heart-shape, the strawberry served as a symbol for Venus, the Goddess of Love. Legend has it, if you break a double strawberry in half and share it with another, you will fall in love with each other.

Strawberries are still the preferred fruit to serve on St. Valentine’s Day. Dip a strawberry in bitter-sweet chocolate and you have the perfect symbol of human love!

We’re very fortunate to have access to strawberries all year round. We’ll be trying a few different filling recipes. But strawberry pies are synonymous with soggy bottoms; so, we’re taking a leaf out of the comments in a recipe blog to paint the crust with chocolate.

We don’t suppose you’ll find many Strawberry Pies with a chocolate, chocolate painted crust on your road trip to the States, but wouldn’t it be worth the cost of a ticket!

We are serving Strawberry Pie with a chocolate, chocolate painted crust at Cold Brew Café for the next two weeks! Come and share a piece or have two all to yourself. Perfect with tea or our beautiful coffee, but if you had it with our home-made hot chocolate, we would be delighted to think you a proper chocoholic!

You can find posts of our recipe progress, "tips and secrets” and other updates on our Facebook page @coldbrewcafeaustralia. Search #greatamericanpietour to find our past posts and pies on the Great American Pie Tour and look for the final Strawberry Pie recipe in the next printing of the Valley Messenger.

We look forward to seeing you!

Strawberry Pie with Chocolate, Chocolate Painted Crust Recipe

Strawberry Pie with Chocolate, Chocolate Painted Crust is becoming a real favourite at the Cold Brew Café. We have made a lot of pies already, so, before we just hand over the recipe we would like to share a few things we have discovered about the filling and the crust.

Most of the fillings we researched had huge amounts of sugar. And when reading comments we found a lot of chatter about, “soggy bottoms”. Then we came upon a recipe called, “Retro” Strawberry Pie. This pie harkens back to the 1950s when, what we call “Jell-O" in the States, was used to suspend the strawberries in a pie. We didn’t want a Strawberry Jell-O pie, so we struck a compromise between the two. Cornflour and strawberry jelly are used to thicken this filling. We’ve cut way back on the sugar to make a beautiful, clear strawberry jelly that is poured over fresh or frozen strawberries. When set for no less than 3 hours it is a strawberry sensation but not at all too sweet! Only now, what crust should we use?

Our first try was a chocolate painted Choc Ripple biscuits crust. It was delicious but really overshadowed the strawberry filling with its biscuit-ness! It really became a chocolate biscuits and cream pie, and we didn’t want that. (Oh, we WANT that, but not for a strawberry pie.) Next, we tried a twist on a Pâte Sucrée; a French pastry favourite with cocoa added, but once again, we were disappointed. Finally, we decided to modify our old favourite Nice Biscuit crust. We added Dutch milled cocoa to this very simple recipe and we never looked back! We finally found the perfect match for our sensational filling.

This pie is so flexible when it comes to fresh or frozen strawberries. We have even been mixing the two. You will need a total of 680g of strawberries sorted into the pretty ones and the not so pretty ones.

We understand if you can’t be bothered making this elegant and delicious pie! We’re happy to make it for you for the next week! Strawberry Pie with Chocolate, Chocolate Painted Crust is available at Cold Brew Café until next Saturday! And then we will have a brand new Great American Pie for you to try!

Strawberry Pie with Chocolate, Chocolate Painted Crust Recipe

Chocolate, Chocolate Painted Crust

1 packet Arnott's Nice Biscuits
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
125g melted butter (room temperature or melted)
3 tablespoons cocoa (we use Dutch milled)
60g bittersweet chocolate chips

Method:

Put broken biscuits, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until very fine. Add melted butter and pulse until combined. Pour into a bowl and mix to make sure butter is evenly distributed.
Pour into pie dish and use a flat-bottomed measuring cup to compact the buttery crumb evenly into the bottom and up the sides.
Use your finger at the top to compact the edge.
Cover with parchment and use beans or pie weights to hold up sides while blind baking.
Bake in preheated 160 ℃ oven for 20 minutes. Remove the weights and parchment and bake another 5 to 8 minutes. There should be good structure to the crust.
While the crust is still hot place chocolate chips on the bottom and allow to melt for 3 minutes.
Use a silicone brush gently paint the melted chocolate on the bottom and up the sides.
Let cool to room temperature and then place in the refrigerator until cold.

Strawberry Pie Filling

300g not beautiful strawberries
380g beautiful strawberries quartered (frozen or fresh)
30g cornstarch
60g sugar
1 packet strawberry jelly 85g
2 to 3 tablespoons water
Pinch salt

Method:

Core and quarter the pretty strawberries into a bowl and set aside.
Off heat add cornflour, sugar, strawberry jelly powder, and water to a saucepan and stir until well combined and there are no lumps. Add the not so pretty strawberries. Place on medium-high heat, stirring constantly to bring to a boil, stopping when the strawberries have softened enough to mash with a potato masher. Boil for 5 minutes or more until very thick and liquid has turned clear red.
Take off heat and stir to release steam.
Then pour over the pretty strawberries.
Mix and let cool completely
Pour into cold pie crust.

Whipped cream

3/4 c pure cream
2 tablespoons sour cream or crème fraiche
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons icing mixture

Method:

In a mixing bowl pour pure cream, crème fraiche, icing mixture and salt
Whip until stiff peaks form
Pile in Center of pie pushing out leaving 2cm from edge.

Enjoy!

If you are looking for a payment system, we use Square.
Follow the link to get $1000 off fees. Square Affilate Link