Strawberry Cream Pie

In honor of Canada Day, and in order to make something new with this week's strawberries, I decided to do a riff on a strawberry tart that I saw in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. Tart shell; pastry cream, and fresh strawberries on top. My version? Sweet tart dough, with a layer of chocolate berry preserves from the Hamilton Farmer's market, pastry cream, and fresh strawberries.

Now, this story really begins last weekend, when we were going to Craig's house for dinner - the same day I bought a gorgeous quart of organic strawberries from Quinte Organic at the Evergreen Brickworks farmer's market. Excited (and without rhubarb to reprise my strawberry-rhubarb pie), I decided to make a tart. I got out Dorie Greenspan's book, made some tart dough, and then proceeded to follow her recipe for pastry cream.

I don't know if it was the fact that P's aunt called when I was in the middle of it, requiring me to multi-task, or that the directions weren't totally clear - but the pastry cream did not gel. Too late to run out and get more milk and eggs, I brought the strawberries to Craig's. A star in their own right, but I was disappointed in my pastry failure.

So, being that today is a holiday - leaving the entire day for baking concentration - I popped the still-frozen tart dough into the oven to bake while making a different recipe for pastry cream, from The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, by Bo Friberg. This recipe calls for 2 eggs, rather than 6 egg yolks (as my previous attempt had), and manages to make only one pot dirty. I carefully followed his directions, and - voila! - delicious, thick pastry cream.

The previously-made tart crust? Not so good. It cracked in a thousand places, rendering it beyond repair. I then went to a different baking cookbook, Modern Baker, by Nick Malgieri, and tried out his Sweet Tart Dough recipe. It came out perfectly - a bit sandy in texture, somewhat cookie-like, and sweet (but not too sweet). The perfect support for a schmear of chocolate berry preserves, then the pastry cream, and then sliced strawberries on top.

This pie - and I did it in a pie shell so there would be enough room for all of the pastry cream - was delicious. The pastry cream was light and creamy, and not too sweet; the strawberries were as perfect as strawberries can be, and the jam added a hint of fruity-chocolaty flavor to each bite. This is a pie worthy of breakfast tomorrow, which is good - there's still a lot left! Too bad it's too difficult to transport on the bus into work for my co-workers to share...

P.S. I love Dorie Greenspan, and all of her recipes - I'm guessing my failure with her recipe was due to my inexperience with both recipes, and my inattention while making them. Everything else I've made from her cookbook has been fantastic, and even looks just like the pictures - so please don't base any decisions on using her cookbooks on this one not-so-great experience.