chocolate lattice strawberry pie;

Strawberry picking season is here and that means–strawberry-inspired recipes for the blog! So coming at’cha: chocolate lattice strawberry pie. Fresh, ripe berries just make the most beautiful pie filling, surrounded by luscious and flaky chocolate pie crust. And of course I sprinkled a few chocolate chips into the filling too.

When I had the idea for a chocolate pie crust for this chocolate lattice strawberry pie, I really didn’t think much of it. Not an oreo crust, not even a cookie crust, but a real buttery pie crust. Just made with chocolate. But the concept of a chocolate lattice crust is apparently, a fairly novel one. The only real reference I could find was this chocolate cherry pie over at Overtime Cook. (Which looks delicious, by the way). But we just went strawberry picking, so of course I had to make a strawberry pie.

Can I use thawed frozen strawberries instead of fresh? Sure, but when they’re fresh you can literally smell the sweetness rolling off the strawberries.

Secret to success

Wondering: can I use thawed frozen strawberries instead of fresh? You can, but I really prefer fresh strawberries. With frozen strawberries, you never know what flavor or ripeness they had when picked, and the frozen juices can sometimes contribute to a soggy pie. It will still work, but make sure you thaw and drain them if you don’t have access to fresh strawberries!

But it also occurred to me that I have a tried and true pie crust recipe from my childhood…I want to say from a home ec class in like middle school? It’s delicious and I use it for everything from savory (chicken pot pie) to sweet (lattice apple pie) when I’m not feeling lazy. (Puff pastry and pre-made pie crusts are also delicious and a necessary staple sometimes!) So I adjusted my own recipe and it came out…delicious!

A word to the wise about this chocolate pie crust though. It is not sweet. I love that for this chocolate lattice strawberry pie–all the sweet, juicy strawberry filling creates all the sweetness you need. Plus, serving with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream also adds extra sugar to the dish, so the crust offsets the sweetness with cocoa and doesn’t take away from the beautiful, bright flavors of the pie.

Don’t skip out on that sprinkle of Turbinado sugar on the top of the chocolate crust! The cocoa crust pairs perfectly with the sweet filling, but keeps a touch of bitterness from the cocoa.

secret to success

Don’t skip out on that sprinkle of Turbinado sugar on the top of the chocolate crust! The crust on it’s own is not sweet and has a bit of bitterness from the cocoa powder. This is intentional and pairs perfectly with the sweet, oozy strawberry filling. But the extra sprinkle of sugar is needed. If you don’t have fancy raw Turbinado sugar, just use regular white sugar.

I love to serve this with homemade vanilla bean whipped cream. Add roughly 1/2 cup heavy cream to a bowl, add a Tbsp or two of sugar (depending on your preference for sweetness), and add the beans from a vanilla pod. (Alternatively, add a splash of vanilla but the vanilla bean will shine so much brighter scraping the seeds from a pod.) Whip that up with your hand or stand mixer until stiff peaks form and then serve with your chocolate lattice strawberry pie!

Serve with vanilla bean whipped cream or vanilla ice cream! The white color offsets the dark palette of the pie and adds a delicious complimentary vanilla flavor.

secret to success

You could even decorate with some whipped cream and blueberries for a fun red, white, and blue twist on this delicious pie. Nothing says summer like a homemade pie!

secrets to success;

Want all the best tips and tricks to make this recipe a success? Check out the blog post above to find out more!

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more recipes;

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• Firecracker sugar cookie bars light up any cookout or gathering–and will even pop and fizzle in your mouth!
• Any outdoor grilling wouldn’t be complete without the best burger rub you’ve ever tasted! Make a batch and keep it on hand–always!
• For an easy crowd-pleasing recipe chock full of cinnamon and cheesecake flavors, you can’t go wrong with churro cheesecake bars!

Love strawberry season? Here’s some of my favorite strawberry recipes!

• strawberry apple hand pies;
• strawberry-cheesecake-cookies;
• no churn roasted-strawberry-ice-cream;
• fresh strawberry-mochi;
• the simplest (and most delicious) strawberries-and-cream-pastries;