Spring Strawberry Slab Pie

I made this strawberry slab pie with a beautiful vision in my heads of an ode to spring: flowers and butterflies, and ripe, glorious strawberries. And well, it didn't turn out as lovely as I had hoped, but it tasted ten times better than I could have imagined.

Strawberries are in season at the moment where we live, so we can get plenty of high quality strawberries, in large quantities, for a fairly inexpensive price. With all those strawberries to use up, a slab pie was inevitable, as this massive pie feeds about 12 people.

If you aren't in to the butterfly/flowers look (I don't blame you), or you just don't have the right cookie cutters, feel free to make a weave crust top or just lay two pie crust across the top. Just be sure to slice vent holes on top.

And this pie is great on its own, but it's not really complete without a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

Ingredients:

• 4 pie crusts (I used store-bought, and it was still fantastic, but feel free to make your own if you're a masochist)
• 4 pints fresh strawberries, washed, dried, and quartered
• flour for the work surface
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• juice and zest from one orange
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon raw sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F . Lightly spread flour over a clean, dry counter. Roll two of the pie crusts in to a thin rectangle, transfer this pie crust to a jelly roll pan, leaving about 1/2 an inch of overhang.
2. Roll the remaining pie crust dough to about 1/4 inch thick, use the cookie cutters to make dough shapes, transfer to a baking pan lined with wax paper and place in the freezer.
3. In a large bowl, combine strawberries, orange juice, orange zest, sugar, salt, and cornstarch. Stir until well combined, set aside.
4. Brush half (about one tablespoon) melted butter on the prepared pie crust. Fill the pie crust with the strawberry mixture, spread evenly across the dough.
5. Remove the dough shapes from the freezer and place them over the strawberry filling, brush with the remaining butter and sprinkle with the raw sugar.
6. Loosely cover the pie with foil. Place the pie in the oven and bake for about one hour, removing the foil from the pie in the last 30 minutes. The crust will be golden brown when it is done baking.

Serve warm or keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.