Fresh rhubarb and early strawberries are great in the spring and early summer months. This is a delightful desert fresh or frozen for later use.

Adding sugar or artificial sweetener is your choice; you can go no sweetener added if you like that tart flavor of rhubarb, or you can use honey, maple syrup, or corn syrup to sweeten. Just match the recipe cup for cup for sugar, syrup, or artificial sweetener.

Supplies

9 inch Pie Plate

Pastry Cutter or Two Forks

Mixing Bowl

Measuring Cup

Measuring Spoons

Plastic Wrap

Cutting Board

Sharp Knife

Pot

Hand Blender

Mixing Spoon

Step 1: Pie Crust

For mixing the pastry dough you will need a pastry cutter or two forks, the cutter is for cutting in the lard, butter, or margarine into your pastry dough so it forms little balls that turn into flakes when you roll out the dough.

For flaky pastry and crusts cold is your friend, cold ingredients, cold tools, and a cool room for mixing the ingredients.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter.

Step 2: Pie Crust Directions

This should be enough to make two pie crusts.

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl, stir in egg yolk, vanilla, butter, and add the cold water slowly as you cut it in with the pastry cutter.

Add the cold water until mixture forms small moist clumps.

If dough is dry, add more water by tea spoons full to moisten.

Mixing and cutting in the butter can warm up the dough; so gather dough into ball cut it in half and flatten into a disk. Wrap the two disks in plastic and refrigerate until dough is firm enough to roll. This can take about 30 minutes.

When the dough is ready; roll out the dough on a flour coated board, with a flour coated rolling pin.

Flip the dough and coat the dough, board, and rolling pin with flour, and roll again. Repeat this until the dough is at least 9 inches or more in diameter to fit the pie plate.

Once the dough is the right diameter place it on a flour coated pie plate and cut off the excess, the handle of a butter knife taped on the edge of the crust makes for a nice decorative finish.

The pastry dough can be prepared 1 day ahead of time, just keep refrigerated and let soften slightly at room temperature before rolling.

Step 3: Baking the Crust

Preheat oven to 375⁰ F 190⁰ C

Place pie shell on a cookie sheet.

Bake the pie shell on the middle rack for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow the pie shell to cool before filling.

Step 4: Filling Ingredients

2 cups pureed rhubarb

1 cup chopped rhubarb

1 cup chopped Strawberries

1 cup sliced Strawberries

1 ⅓ cups white sugar

2 pouches Knox Gelatine

1 tea spoon vanilla extract

Step 5: Pureed Rhubarb Directions

Raw Rhubarb doesn’t like freezing; Ice crystals form in the rhubarb when you freeze it and the water separates from the rhubarb when it thaws. To avoid the water separating from the rhubarb, other than what I use in jams and baked goods, I puree and freeze the rest.

Dice the rhubarb in 1/2 inch chunks and put 1 cup to a side for later.

Place the rest of the rhubarb in a pot with two cups of water.

Bring the water up to a boil on high and reduce the heat to simmer.

When the rhubarb reduces turn off the heat and puree the rhubarb with a hand blender.

Put the two cups you need for your pies in a pot and put the rest aside to cool before freezing.