{Best!} Strawberry Pie for the 4th!

Independence Day is upon us! And because I love you as much as I love my country, I'm dishing out the family recipe for strawberry pie. I'll tell you what--nothing else I make elicits such oohs and ahhs and recipe requests. This is the clear winner.

For the pie crust {Special shout out to my mom for teaching me the ways of pie crustery!}:
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup veg. oil
3 T cold water

Mix flour and salt. Add oil, mix with fork until well blended, like fine crumbs. Sprinkle with water and mix with fork. Gather dough and press into 2 balls--one with 2/3 of the dough, the other with 1/3 of the dough. Set aside smaller ball. Roll large dough ball between two pieces of waxed paper (wet counter underneath to prevent slipping of paper). Peel off top paper. Place pie dish on top of crust and flip it over so crust is now inside the dish. Peel off remaining waxed paper. Trim or flute crust as you like. Prick crust with fork to allow air. Bake at 450 deg. for 12-15 minutes.

On a floured surface, roll out small dough ball. Cut out stars with cookie cutter (hearts would be darling for V-day or you could spell something like I did on Mother's Day). Place stars on cookie sheet and sprinkle them lightly with sugar. Bake at 450 deg. for 10-12 minutes.

For the pie filling:
1 cup sugar
2 T cornstarch
1 quart fresh strawberries, coarsely sliced (it's even more fun if you can get small local berries and leave them whole!)
1 T butter
1 small package strawberry gelatin (don't be afraid of the jello, it just helps the pie set up!)
1 T lemon juice

Mix sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Mash 1 cup of the berries and add water to make 2 cups. Stir into sugar mixture. Cook and stir until boiling. Boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add butter, jello, and lemon juice. Stir to dissolve jello. Chill mixture until partly set. (When I'm in a hurry I admittedly skip this step!) Spoon a third of mixture into baked pie shell. Top with remaining sliced berries. Cover with remaining mixture. Place baked stars on top. Chill. (I like it on the softer side; if you chill it too long the jello sets up too hard.)

We typically serve this pie with vanilla ice cream. Last year we served it with honey flavored Greek yogurt which was to die for!

Hope you love it!
--Anne