It is strawberry season finally.  I bought a two pound box of them at the store and then wondered what I should do with so many berries.  We were having our friends Anna and Chris over for dinner, and I thought it might be nice to finish the meal with a strawberry pie, which I had never made before.  I looked up a bunch of recipes, but nothing struck my fancy.  I ended up taking a few ideas from some different recipes and making up my own.  I was pleased with the end product.  It is not a particularly quick pie to make, but it screams summer.

To begin:

Make and pre-bake a pie crust.  You can use my basic pie crust recipe, or use your own.  You could even use a store bought one if you want.  I used a butter/flour crust, but I think a graham  cracker crust would work well too.

The glaze:

2 cups sliced strawberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons cornstarch

optional: lemon juice and/or zest

Cook over medium heat until thickened.  It should take about 10 minutes.  Set aside and let cool.

The Cream Cheese filling:

4 ounces cream cheese

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 sugar

zest of one lemon

juice of one lemon

Put all ingredients into a stand mixer and mix until combined and smooth.

To assemble the pie: 

Spread the cream cheese filling on the baked pie shell.

Hull enough strawberries to cover the bottom of the pie plate.  I stood mine up straight with the points in the air.  Once they are all in place on the cream cheese filling, spoon the cooled glaze on top of the berries.

Put it into the fridge for an hour to set up the glaze.