Strawberry Sleeping Death Pie

This pie is inspired by the poison apple that promises sleeping death after just one bite in the classic movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Evil Queen casts a spell and dips an apple into her cauldron and the poison drips down to show the face of a skull. Rather than try and dye pieces of cut apple red, I decided to make a strawberry pie. It tastes very good with the white chocolate that mimics the poison in the original tale. The fun aspect of the poison design is that there are no perfect drips! The messier the better! Happy baking!!

Ingredients

Pie Crust:

· 4 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour

· ½ cup of chilled shortening

· 1 cup of chilled unsalted butter

· 1 teaspoon of salt

· 2 tablespoons of white sugar (optional)

· ½ - ¾ cups of chilled water

Pie Filling:

· 3 ½ cups of fresh strawberries, washed and sliced

· ¼ cup of all-purpose flour

· ¾ cup of white sugar

Decorations

· 8 oz. of white chocolate (I used Ghirardelli White Chocolate Premium Baking Bar)

· One piece of caramel candy or a tootsie roll for apple stem.

*This recipe makes enough for three 9" crusts. One will be used for the base of the pie, the second for the top. I liked having one extra for any mistakes (I used one for practice) or use it on another pie!

Mix together flour and salt (and sugar if using. I prefer crusts without.) in a large bowl. Cut butter into small slices and mix flour so butter is coated. Place small pieces (about a teaspoon) of shortening into the bowl and mix. Now depending on preference blend butter and shortening with a pastry blender or fingers. Chunks of fat should be no larger than a pea. The butter and shortening should all be coated in flour.

Slowly add ice water. With your hands or a wooden spoon try and form a ball of dough. As soon as the ball of dough is formed do not add any additional water.

Separate dough ball into three equal smaller balls and then form each into the shape of a thick disc. Wrap each of them in foil and place in freezer or refrigerator for around 30 minutes.

After the dough has chilled a bit, roll one of the discs out to about 1/8th of an inch thick and lay into the bottom of the pie dish. Poke bottom of pie with a fork.

Cut and slice washed strawberries.

Mix flour, sugar, and sliced strawberries in large bowl.

Let sit for 20 minutes, occasionally stirring mix.

After 20 minutes pour pie filling into pie crust.

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F

Roll out a second disc of dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. This will be the top of the pie with the face and drip lines. Measure using a ruler a diameter of about 9 1/2 in., or simply place pie dish and estimate the size needed. It is better to exaggerate the size of the face since once placed on pie it can easily be trimmed with a knife. Cut out face with a sharp knife and make drip lines below the face according to preference.

Once done, carefully move pie crust to the top of the pie (note: only place the pie top after the pie filling has been prepared and put in pie crust). Cut off edges that hang over pie dish.

Place in oven at 425 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until crust is slightly browned.

Melt White Chocolate according to directions or preference. I melted Ghirardelli White Chocolate Premium Baking Bars and they worked great!

After chocolate is melted place into piping bag or even a small snack bag would work (which is what I used in the photo). Once in bag use it to cover the pie top to decorate the face. Like I said there are no perfect drips so have fun with it! After decorating with the white chocolate, mold a piece of caramel or tootsie roll into a stem shape and place at top of pie.

Wait for chocolate to harden before serving and enjoy!