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Blueberry Pie Bars
Samantha Seneviratne
1985 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
1,985
About 1 hour 10 minutes, plus chilling
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For the strawberry gelatin: combine sliced strawberries and sugar in a medium heat proof (preferably metal) bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 18 to 24 hours.
To make the crust: Heat oven to 325 degrees and lightly grease a 9- or 10-inch pie dish (don’t use anything smaller). In a food processor combine wafers, sugar and melted butter. Process until mixture is well blended. Transfer to prepared pie dish and, using the bottom of a flat-bottomed measuring cup, press crumb mixture into an even layer on the bottom and up the sides, pressing up about ¼-inch past the rim of the pie pan. Bake until the crust darkens slightly at the edges, 8 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
To make the filling: Purée 3 ounces strawberries in a food processor, blender or immersion blender until smooth. You should have about ¼ to ⅓ cup strawberry purée. Set aside. Quarter another 2 ounces of strawberries to yield about ⅓ cup, and set aside.
With a whisk or an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat heavy cream and sugar until soft peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in strawberry purée until just combined, making sure not to over beat. Using a rubber spatula, fold in quartered strawberries. Scrape strawberry cream into the cooled pie crust and smooth the top. Press the halved vanilla wafers vertically into the filling so that it is studded throughout with wafers. Cover pie with plastic wrap or parchment paper, place on rimmed sheet pan and chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours (and up to 3 days). The longer the pie sits, the more cakelike the cookies get.
Once the pie has chilled, thinly slice the remaining 5 ounces of strawberries. Remove pie from refrigerator and place sliced strawberries over the filling to cover it, overlapping slightly if necessary. Place back into the refrigerator, covered, as you make the strawberry gelatin.
Put an inch or two of water in a medium saucepan and bring water to a simmer. Place the still-covered bowl of strawberries on top of the saucepan. Be sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl; if so, pour some water out. Heat strawberries to release more juice, swirling the bowl occasionally (use oven mitts), for 15 minutes; they should look very juicy. Using a fine sieve, strain strawberries until there is about ⅔ cup juice. You can press gently on the berries to release more juice but don’t press too hard or the gelatin will get cloudy. Save the strawberry solids for something else, like smoothies.
Transfer about 2 tablespoons of the hot strawberry juice into a bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the top; let it sit for a few minutes to soften. Add remaining strawberry juice to gelatin mixture and whisk until completely dissolved. Whisk in lemon juice.
With the pie still in the refrigerator on a sheet pan, pour the gelatin over the sliced strawberries (pouring the gelatin over the back over a spoon suspended over the pie can be helpful to get an even layer of gelatin over the top and doing this work while the pie is in the fridge ensures the glossiest topping and keeps everything from spilling). Let pie chill in the refrigerator, uncovered, until the gelatin sets, at least 2 hours or overnight. Serve with whipped cream dolloped on top.
The two ingredient icebox pie is the one she describes in the first paragraph of her article, made from whipped cream and chocolate wafers -- a totally different recipe.
Made this over the last couple of days. Gorgeous endeavor with an amazing result. To all of you hesitating because of the naysayers in the crowd, ignore them and make this pie. It was totally worth it!
I find freezing and thawing strawberries work well as a no fuss way to macerate strawberries.
The vertical wafers are essential to ensure that the filling solidifies to a sliceable texture. The filling is whipped cream with extra moisture from strawberry puree, which will turn into soup as it sits in the refrigerator. Juxtapose it with the wafers, however, and those wafers will soak up all of that moisture, turn soft and cake-like, and enable the whole shebang to firm up. Don't omit those wafers!
The author stated there are 2 tweaks, not ingredients.
Tempted to make the strawberry gelatin with frozen strawberries.
Thinking of making this without the vertical wafers in the pie. It seems like there’s enough just in the crust. Anyone try that?
I found this recipe to be easy. Yes there are a few steps, but they are all relatively simple. The only modifications I made were to add an extra TBS of butter to the crust (I may have gotten too many waters into my mix), and to cook the strawberries in a heavy bottomed pan and drain them through cheesecloth (since I didn’t have time to wait the full 18-24 hours for maceration.) I used organic strawberries, and the red gelatin made them look as glossy as the photo. Will definitely make again
Would be curious for input from anyone who may have tried making this with agar-agar in place of gelatin. ... (Quantities for good texture, please?)
I wish you had given a recipe for homemade vanilla wafers. And I assume you’re using late bearing strawberries found at farmers markets? In Maine we have a variety called ever-bearing available until first frost.
This needs at least 2Tbsp more butter if you want to make a quarter inch rim above the pie tin (possibly caused by the use of higher fat European butter?)
Cooked this and it came out beautifully! Quick note, macerate an extra 1/4to 1/2 cup of strawberries. I did not get enough juice out of mine so I had to cook down another 1/4 cup of strawberries to get the right amount of syrup for the gelatin.
This was really popular with my family. I wasn't totally content with how it came out, but can't deny the rave reviews from everyone else. Easy enough to make if you allow yourself 2 or 3 days, just plan ahead. The crust didn't totally come together for me, but people liked that. I also did not get clear gelatin - not entirely sure what caused it, but I think I may have over whisked the gelatin, as it was frothy.
I loved making the strawberry jello. I was confused by the 2 tbsp. of hot juice mixed with the gelatine because it really wasn’t that hot due to the double boiler. It seized up on me and looked like it was going to be a lumpy mess, but I added more of the hot liquid. That helped. I guess I am saying that the jello making directions could be clearer in terms of the temperature of the liquid.
I followed the recipe exactly over a full 2 day period. I bought and used only the best and freshest strawberries. However the strawberry flavor was very very mild - this was such a disappointing recipe. Not sure where it went so wrong!
I’m betting it is the strawberries available in our supermarkets. From California, huge and totally without favor, made to travel but not to eat, IMHO. I would use frozen raspberries for the maceration and mouse, and fresh for the top.
Made this with raspberries and animal crackers. I ran the raspberries for the gelatin through a food mill after a few hours, as they don't exude moisture like strawberries when you sugar them. It was so good, my husband asked when I'd me making this again - as we finished the last slice.
This is a good project for a three day weekend - the stunning result is worth the effort. I think adding more butter to the crust would help it from crumbling quite so much.
Made this over the last couple of days. Gorgeous endeavor with an amazing result. To all of you hesitating because of the naysayers in the crowd, ignore them and make this pie. It was totally worth it!
I found this recipe to be easy. Yes there are a few steps, but they are all relatively simple. The only modifications I made were to add an extra TBS of butter to the crust (I may have gotten too many waters into my mix), and to cook the strawberries in a heavy bottomed pan and drain them through cheesecloth (since I didn’t have time to wait the full 18-24 hours for maceration.) I used organic strawberries, and the red gelatin made them look as glossy as the photo. Will definitely make again
despite the recipe writing structure, a very easy endeavor. i made this over 3 days (strawberries macerated the entire time), using WFH breaks for random steps. Followed to a T. Tastes great!
I find freezing and thawing strawberries work well as a no fuss way to macerate strawberries.
Thinking of making this without the vertical wafers in the pie. It seems like there’s enough just in the crust. Anyone try that?
The vertical wafers are essential to ensure that the filling solidifies to a sliceable texture. The filling is whipped cream with extra moisture from strawberry puree, which will turn into soup as it sits in the refrigerator. Juxtapose it with the wafers, however, and those wafers will soak up all of that moisture, turn soft and cake-like, and enable the whole shebang to firm up. Don't omit those wafers!
Would be curious for input from anyone who may have tried making this with agar-agar in place of gelatin. ... (Quantities for good texture, please?)
the provided sequence of the recipe...Faulkner would be proud!
Tempted to make the strawberry gelatin with frozen strawberries.
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