For some time, I’ve been thinking about how I wanted to become better at pie-making and try some new recipes. Since we’ve had such a hot summer though, I was planning on getting serious about making pies when it cooled off a little more this coming fall.

And then I received a review copy of  A Year of Pies by Ashley English. When I was looking through this book, which has a good variety of sweet and savory pie recipes divided up by season (so you can use fresh seasonal ingredients in your pies all year long), I found some summery pies that sounded good and decided to try the Frozen Strawberry Pie…just the thing to make on a really hot summer day! Made with vanilla yogurt, honey, and cream, it’s really refreshing! It’s also a lightly sweet pie, which I liked, but if you like your pie sweeter you could add a little more honey to your filling.

This cookbook also includes recipes for a variety of pie crusts, and the Frozen Strawberry Pie has a graham cracker crust. This was the first graham cracker crust I’ve made…

I thought it turned out pretty well…it was very easy to make and it’s a really good crust! A Year of Pies also includes some helpful pie-making tips at the beginning of the book which, being a novice pie-maker, I really appreciate. 🙂

Here’s the pie recipe if you’d like to try this out yourself!

FROZEN STRAWBERRY PIE from A Year of Pies

Makes one 9″ (deep-dish) pie

Graham Cracker Crust (makes one 9-inch deep-dish crust):

• 8 ounces graham crackers (about 10 “sheets,” which will yield about 2 cups crushed crackers)
• 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Crush the graham crackers either by pulsing them in a food processor or placing them in a plastic freezer bag and rolling over them with a rolling pin.

Combine the crushed graham crackers, melted butter, sugar, and salt in a medium-size bowl and stir until fully mixed. Press the mixture into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate, covering the bottom evenly and pressing the crumbs halfway up the sides (my pie plate was semi-deep-dish, so I pushed my crumbs up the sides a little higher…almost to the top).

Bake the crust 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool completely before filling.

Frozen Strawberry Pie Filling:

• 2 cups whole-milk vanilla yogurt
• 3 tablespoons honey (add an extra tablespoon if you’d like it sweeter)
• 2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Optional garnish: 1/2 cup strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced (I just cut about 8 or 9 hulled strawberries in half and used those around the edges, cut side down, for a garnish)

Combine the yogurt and honey in a large bowl. Stir in the 2 cups of strawberries.

In a medium-size bowl, using a mixer or a whisk, beat the cream and vanilla until billowy peaks form.

Fold the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture.

Assemble the pie:

Pour the filling mixture into the cooled crust (my pie plate was semi-deep-dish, so I didn’t use quite all the filling). If desired, arrange sliced (or halved) strawberries in a circle around the outer edge of the pie.

Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. (I froze mine overnight, and since it was so frozen, I needed to allow about 30 to 40 minutes’ thawing time before I could slice the pie…thawing time will probably vary–just keep in mind that the pie may need some time to thaw!)

Variation: You can substitute blackberries or raspberries for the strawberries.

This is a great pie for summer! What’s your favorite summertime pie?