While visiting on February with my wife's parents in Florida, we were treated to the abundance of strawberries available at that time of the year. We found big, beautiful, almost picture-perfect strawberries for 99 cents a quart. Back home in Anchorage, Alaska, lesser quality berries cost $3.49 a pint. Our own strawberry patch in mid-February is buried under three feet of snow and we wont expect any strawberries for another 4 to 6 months.

Crust (1 crust, 9-inch)

Pre-made and pastry mix crusts are easy and convenient to use and make. You will need to prepare a single crust recipe. Personally, we like the crust that we get when we use the recipe from Betty Crocker's Best of Baking (below). We have found that if the temperature is much over 70°F., it is best to refrigerate the shortening for an hour or so before using it and to cool the dough, wrapped in waxed paper, for awhile in the refrigerator before rolling.

Crust Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
• 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Crust Directions

1. Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening until the mixture is the texture of a coarse meal. Add water, a tablespoon at a time, while tossing with a fork. Work just enough soo that all of the flour mixture is moistened and just clings to the side of the mixing bowl. Depending on the flour and the humidity, an additional 1 or 2 tablespoons of water may be necessary.
2. Gather dough into a ball and shape into a flattened round on a floured surface. Roll out dough with floured rolling pin until it is two inches larger than your pie plate.
3. Lightly flour the dough. Gently roll the crust onto the rolling pin. Place over the pie plate and unroll the dough onto the pie plate. Form the dough to the sides of the pie plate.
4. Trim the dough to a one inch overhang all around. With your fingers, tuck the overhang just under the crust. With thumb and finger of one hand and a knuckle of the other hand, form the flutes of the pie crust.
5. With a fork, pierce the crust on the bottom and the sides of the pie shell. Make the pattern of the fork tines about 1-inch apart. bake in a 375°F. preheated oven for 8 o 10 minutes or until light brown. Remove and set aside to cool. Can be made a day ahead of time.

Filling

You will need to prepare the strawberries about four or more hours in advance (the day before is better) and prepare the pudding when called for in the recipe.

Strawberries

• 1 1/2 to 2 pints fresh strawberries
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. Wash, stem and inspect strawberries. Drain well. Reserve a rounded half cup of the berries. Halve the remaining berries; if the berries are very large, quarter. Place a layer of the cut berries in the bottom of a bowl. Sprinkle with sygar. Place another layer of berries and sprinkle with sugar. Repeat until all berries are used.
2. Take the reserve berries and cut across them to make circles about an eighth of an inch thick. Place a layer in the bottom of a bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Repeat until all berries are used.Cover bowls with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to marinate until about an hour before assembling the pie. Then place berries in a colander and allow to drain.

Pudding

• 2 3.4-ounce Jell-O White Chocolate pudding mix
• 3 cups whole milk (part skim milk may be used but the pudding has less body)

1. Prepare pudding according to package directions for a pie.

Assembly

1. Take cooled pie shell; layer drained strawberry rounds in bottom to form a layer. Extra rounds are laid against the side of the pie shell so that the entire inside of the pie shell is covered with the strawberry rounds.
2. Carefully pour made-up pudding into pie shell. Smooth out surface and place pie in the refrigerator and allow the pudding to set (about 1/2 hour).
3. Apply a spiral of dark unsweetened or semi-sweet chocolate to the top of the pudding. A cake decorating tool works well for this purpose. Chocolate syrup can be used but the pie will be a lot sweeter.
4. Remove pie from refrigerator and arrange halved strawberries in layers to cover the pudding. Make each successive layer smaller so that strawberries mound in the middle.
5. Cover the strawberry layer with a thick, fluffy layer of whipped cream. The basic hite Chocolate Strawberry Cream Pie

The basic pie as presented above is very tasty. A bite through the pie provides a mixture of tastes and textures that contrast as well as accent each other. The smooth texture and mild taste of the pudding contrast with the taste and texture of the dark chocolate. The chocolate flavors mix excellently with the sweet and yet tart crispness of the strawberries.

If more strawberry taste is wanted, the liquid drained from the marinated strawberries can be simmered with a bit of corn starch to thicken and then cooled; or a commercial strawberry glaze can be drizzled over the top layer of strawberries before the whipped cream is applied.