Strawberry season is coming up and am excited. It’s one of the fresh berries one can find in India and it’s local. Since the available time frame is very limited, I didn’t want to miss out on any Strawberry recipes.

So here’s to the season’s first strawberry recipe.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• 100 grams cold butter, cubed
• Ice water 1/4 cup
• Pinch of salt
• Cling wrap
• 2 sheets of parchment paper
• 2 tbsp organic strawberry preserve
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• Fresh strawberries, thinly slices
• 1 egg

METHOD

1. For the pie base, add flour, sugar and salt to a food processor. Or you can also do this by hand. Pulse it once to give everything a mix. Now add the cubed butter into it and pulse a couple of time till the mixture looks like a crumb. If you are doing it by hand, you can use a pastry cutter. Now add the ice water slowly. Whisk it till all it all starts to come together. Don’t over work it or whish till it form a dough. This will make the pie hard. Take out the dough mixture in a plate and put it in a cling wrap. Using the end of the cling wrap, shape it in a disc and cover it. Again, do not knead or over-work the dough. Put it in the fridge for at least an hour.
2. Now once the dough has rested, take it out. Put it in between two sheets of lightly floured parchment paper. This trick works really well specially if you live in a warm place. Start rolling out the dough between the parchment paper. Roll it to around 1 cm thickness. Cut them in any shape you want. Here I used cookie cutters of different shape. I made each shape in a set of two for my handpies.
3. For the filling, I went very simple. Some cream cheese and Organic Strawberry preserve. Soften the cream cheese and then add the strawberry preserve to it and that’s it.
4. Now put a little filling between the two layer of pies along with some fresh pieces of strawberry. Press the sides well and seal using a fork to press the two layers together.
5. Beat 1 egg with 1 tbsp water. Brush the egg mixture on top of the pies and sprinkle some granulated sugar. Make a small cross on the top so that the steam can escape.
6. Preheat the oven at 180 degree. Transfer the pies in a baking tray and bake them for 16-20 minutes or until the top is golden and nice.
7. You can make these with any fillings you want and enjoy.