icebox strawberry pie

I have NEVER been a sweets/dessert kind of person. I've always said that I'd much rather order another entree than order dessert. However, Mark is not that way. He will order two entrees AND order dessert! LOL But after we got married his taste has rubbed off on me a bit because now I eat dessert and even crave it from time to time. Augh, I guess that's called marital bliss.

This past weekend the dessert I made to serve with the Filipino chicken adobo was Icebox Strawberry Pie from Cook's Country (which is part of America's Test Kitchen, my fav). I watched the episode where they made this pie and I've been dreaming about it ever since so I was quite happy to finally make it. This is a pretty easy pie to make. The only part that is actually baked is the pie shell and if you're like me and you end up buying the pie shell it's even easier. I will mention that if you decide to buy the pie shell I'd buy the "deep dish" size pie shell. My experience with the Pillsbury pre-made frozen pie shell was that the strawberry filling was too much for the regular pie shell so it actually filled both pie shells that the package came with.

Since this pie was for guests I wanted to go the extra mile and pipe on the whipped topping with a pastry tip to make it look pretty. I actually do own a pastry bag but I really didn't want to have to wash it at the end of the day so I used a ziplock sandwich bag instead. If you don't have a pastry tip you could still use this method. Just fill the bag with the topping and cut off a corner of the sandwich bag and pipe. If you do have a pastry tip then cut off a corner of the unfilled bag and then slip the tip through the hole from inside the sandwich bag then fill with topping. With or without a pastry tip what you want to do next is push as much air out of the bag as possible and lock it closed. When you're ready to pipe pleat the top of the bag in your hand and hold it like that (second picture below) and twist the bag until it pushes the topping out the tip or cut opening. Holding the bag pleated like this will keep the topping from oozing out the top of the bag when you squeeze. Lastly, store the bag in the fridge nestled in a jar until you're ready to use or the next time you want a slice of pie.