Strawberry Shortbread Pie: A Dazzling 5-Ingredient Vegan Dessert

Once a month we’re featuring a family-friendly recipe from the Hatfields for our Kids Can Cook section. Their dairy-free teen cooking star is Katherine and this week she and her “mama”, Sarah, have a special summer dessert to share. This vegan Strawberry Shortbread Pie is bound to impress at backyard barbecues, potlucks, and independence day bashes.

It’s strawberry season! Our town just had its annual strawberry festival, and locally-grown strawberries are for sale on many street corners and at u-pick farms. Local restaurants have beautiful strawberry pies on display in their pie cases, but unfortunately they are topped with whipped cream and have dairy in their crusts. So we like to make our own fancy strawberry pie to enjoy at home.

This Strawberry Shortbread Pie is an adaptation of Peg Bracken’ Shortbread Tart. Katherine and I updated it to use more readily-available ingredients, and of course we made it dairy free. This is a very simple recipe that is easy for kids to make. Younger children might need help getting the crust in and out of the oven and pouring the hot jelly, but they can wash and stem the strawberries and mix and shape the crust.

Although the pie is simple to make, it is a beautiful centerpiece for any summer celebration. While we enjoy it as is, you can decorate it with dairy-free coconut whipped cream or serve it with dairy-free vanilla ice cream for an even fancier dessert.

Special Diet Notes: Strawberry Shortbread Pie

By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian.

This Strawberry Shortbread Pie recipe hasn’t been tested gluten-free yet. But it may work with your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. If you do trial it, let us all know!

Strawberry Shortbread Pie

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

12 mins

Total time

27 mins

 

This summer pie is very easy to make, but be sure to plan at least 2 hours ahead. It does require some chilling time. The recipe is adapted from Peg Bracken's The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book (Yes, it's Compleat not Complete).

Author: Katherine and Sarah Hatfield

Serves: 1 9-inch pie

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (see note in post above for gluten free)
• 2 tablespoons powdered confectioners' sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) dairy-free buttery sticks or buttery spread
• 1 quart fresh strawberries
• 10 ounces seedless red raspberry jelly

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and powdered sugar.
2. Add the margarine and whisk or cut it in with a fork or pastry cutter until it forms small crumbs.
3. Cover and chill the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat your oven to 450ºF.
5. Press the dough evenly into a 9-inch pie pan or tart pan.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.
7. Let the crust cool while you wash, dry, and hull the strawberries.
8. Arrange the strawberries, points facing up, in the piecrust.
9. In a small saucepan, melt the jam over low heat.
10. Pour the jam carefully over the top of the strawberries to glaze each berry.
11. Use a pastry brush to help spread the jam, if necessary.
12. Chill the pie for at least one hour or until ready to serve.
13. Cut into slices and serve with dairy-free ice cream or coconut whipped cream, if desired.
14. Refrigerate any leftovers for up to 3 days.

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