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Oh my goodness. I found the coolest thing to do with some of the recent batch of rhubarb that I picked up from the Farmers' Market. When I saw this post over at Vintage Mixer, I was floored.
Making a pie filling now to be enjoyed at some point in the future when I need a dessert fix? Sign. Me. Up. So I made the filling this afternoon and it's sitting in my freezer right now.
I may have licked the spatula, you know, for purely scientific purposes, and it tasted great! I hope I'll be up for baking the gingersnap crust when I end up making this pie, but I could always just thaw it out and pour it into a pre-made pie crust, too. Easy as (freezer) pie.
When I finally had an occasion where I wanted to make a quick dessert recipe, and I remembered that I had this beauty waiting in the freezer for me!
I had a store-bought pie crust in the freezer, too, but I was really curious to try out the gingersnap one that was posted with the recipe over on Vintage Mixer. Since I already had the filling ready, this was a cinch to put together.
The flavors were wonderful, sweet and slightly spicy from the gingersnaps. Mine didn't firm up too well once sliced, and I had a hard time getting the crust out of the pan. Not totally sure what happened there.
But we just called it "rustic" and got on with it. I served it with some heavy cream that I whipped a little sugar into until it came to soft peaks.
Strawberry Rhubarb Freezer Pie
Vintage Mixer
Yield: 1 Pie
for the pie filling (double or triple if you want to freeze multiple pies)
4 cups strawberries, sliced and dived in half
2 cups rhubarb, sliced
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
juice from ½ lemon (2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract (optional)
for the crust:
5-6 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted, plus additional for greasing pie plate
1 cup finely crushed gingersnap cookies (5 oz)
½ cup finely chopped pecans (2 oz)
⅛ teaspoon salt
Cook 2 cups of the strawberries and 2 cups of the rhubarb over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until they start to break down. Stir occasionally. Using a potato masher or fork, mash the fruit to break it up more. Add sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice and cook for about 3 minutes over medium high heat until mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Add remaining 2 cups sliced strawberries and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract or beans from 1 vanilla bean pod.
Transfer to a freezer safe ziplock back and freeze for a rainy spring day.
To make the crust: Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease pie dish. Toss together all crust ingredients in a bowl with a fork until crumbs are moistened, or use a food processor to combine. Press the crust mixture evenly over bottom and up side of pie plate. Bake crust 6 minutes, then cool on a rack.
constructing the pie
Top cooled crust with defrosted strawberry rhubarb mixture. Chill pie until ready to serve. Before serving top with whipped cream.
Notes: the recipe is for one freezer bag pie but you may double the recipe so that you have two pies waiting for a perfect pie day.
Joanne
Okay that is pure genius and such a great way to preserve summer fruit through the winter!
Suzanne
Hi! I made this freezer pie thinking I would use it to make a two crust pie. I didn’t read the whole recipe oops.....The filling taste delicious would it work to bake it in a two crust pie?
Ashley
Maybe if you cut some shapes out of the second crust to place on top of the pie after it’s chilled that may work - you don’t bake the filling. Good luck!
Rose Hooper
I make strawberry pies for a little guy in the nursing home, since our stupid state does not allow people in to see loved ones without violating HIPPA...(he LOVES strawberry pie) Tonight I made this recipe because I had an abundance of strawberries of marginal quality (winter fare in the stores here) and the flavor is marvelous! I used frozen rhubarb from my garden last summer, and fresh strawberries and added an extra TB of cornstarch because it looked a little runny. I am also a big fan of one crust pies (calories!) and use the cut out hearts as a decorative crust topping...very happy to have found this recipe...will make one for eating now and if there's enough left over, freeze some!
Ashley
That's so sweet of you to make pies to send in for him - I bet it was much appreciated. I've been able to find some surprisingly good winter strawberries here in NY lately. And I also recently used garden rhubarb from my freezer. If you like sweet and tangy, I have a rhubarb custard pie recipe that I've been enjoying since I was a kid that you can make with fresh or frozen rhubarb: https://bigflavorstinykitchen.com/rhubarb-custard-pie-3/
Judy
Thank you for having. Going to enjoy your site.
Ashley
Thanks for stopping by, Judy! 🙂