You should prepare homemade croutons for your salads and other dishes. Making your own allows you to be in control of the ingredients and proud of your work. Add your preferred flavorings as well. Include in salads or soups.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 9 |
| Yield: | 9 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
- ½ cup cold vegetable shortening
- ½ cup ice cold water
- 4 cups hulled and quartered fresh strawberries
- 1 cup white sugar
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 ⅓ cups white sugar
- ½ cup cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 egg yolks
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 6 egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
Instructions
- Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together in a large mixing bowl for the crust until well combined. Add butter and shortening and mix until pea-sized crumbs form. Drizzle in water 1 tablespoon at a time and gently mix until dough starts to come together. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and pack into a ball. Cut dough in half and flatten into 2 discs. Cover each tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Roll out 1 piece of dough to fit a pie pan, reserving the second piece for another use. Prick the bottom using a fork to prevent bubbles. Line dough with parchment paper or aluminum foil, making sure to cover bottom and sides. Fill crust with pie weights, dried beans, or dry rice to weigh it down.
- Bake crust in the preheated oven until golden brown and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove crust from the oven, leaving oven on. Remove pie weights and liner and return crust to the oven. Bake 15 to 20 minutes more.
- Meanwhile, combine strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until strawberries are rendered down, 10 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Whisk water, sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a saucepan until dissolved. Reserve 4 tablespoons of cornstarch slurry in a bowl. Heat the saucepan over high heat until mixture turns clear and thickens, about 5 minutes. Add egg yolks, lemon juice, butter, and lemon zest and whisk until butter is melted, about 3 minutes more. Add reserved slurry 1 tablespoon at a time until filling mixture is thick again.
- Pour hot filling into baked pie crust. Cover filling with strawberry compote.
- Place egg whites in a large mixing bowl and beat using an electric mixer on high speed until bubbles start to appear. Add cream of tartar and continue to mix on high speed until soft peaks form. Reduce mixer speed to medium and add sugar slowly until fully integrated. Return mixer to high speed and mix meringue until stiff peaks form.
- Cover pie with meringue fully to seal in all filling.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
- Bake pie in the preheated oven for 45 minutes until meringue topping is firm and lightly browned. Remove from oven and use a blow torch to toast the peaks to a dark brown.
- The nutrition for this recipe includes both pie crusts, but only one is used in this recipe.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 670 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 99 g |
| Cholesterol | 151 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 397 mg |
| Sugars | 62 g |
| Fat | 29 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I didn’t have enough lemons, so I used two mandarin oranges for another 1/4 cup of juice. It gave it an extra fruity taste!
Very tasty but strawberries were runny. Needed thickening. I added minute tapioca and reheated, then cooled.