This lovely heart-encrusted pie is one of those desserts that looks way more impressive than it is. The flaky, buttery crust is super easy to make, and the filling offers that perfect sweet/tart flavor profile—plus, it comes out a beautiful red color. I made this a few days ago, and the whole thing is already gone. Good thing I had some leftover dough to make hand pies for breakfast!
Strawberry Rhubarb Sweetheart Pie
Pie dough recipe adapted from The Joy of Cooking; filling recipe from Epicurious.
Dough Ingredients:
• 4 cups flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cup shortening, chilled
• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
• 8 Tbsp ice water (you might not use all of it)
• 1 egg (for egg wash)
Filling Ingredients:
• 3 1/2 cups sliced rhubarb
• 1 16oz pack of strawberries (about 3 1/2 cups sliced)
• 1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
Directions:
1. To make the dough, combine four, salt, shortening and butter in a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter and shortening into the flour with a fork until there are pea-sized pieces of dough.
2. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time as you gently mix the dough with your hands. Stop mixing as soon as the dough comes together in a ball (you may need more/less water depending on the circumstances).
3. Split the dough into two even balls, cover them with plastic wrap and stick them in the fridge while you make your filling.
4. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
5. To make the filling, trim any excess leaves off the rhubarb (because they’re toxic!), and cut rhubarb into 1/2″ length pieces. Then hull and half strawberries.
6. Combine all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix it all up. Easiest pie filling ever.
7. Now we are ready to roll out the dough. Take one ball of dough from the refrigerator, sprinkle some flour on your counter or cutting board and roll until the crust is about 1/8″ thick. Again, the goal here is the keep everything nice and cold so your lovely chunks of butter don’t melt and we get that nice, flaky crust.
8. Grease a 9″ glass pie dish and slide your pie dough in. I like to roll out my dough on a thin plastic cutting board so I can put the pie dish on top and flip everything over. That way you don’t have to worry about folding the dough or tearing it. Then, trim off excess dough.
9. Place your pie dish back in the fridge while you roll out your second ball of dough. Find a pretty heart-shaped cookie cutter and cut out a bunch of hearts—I think I used 27.
10. Time to put it all together! Take the chilled pie pan with crust out of the fridge and add the filling. Then, start layering your hearts on top in a spiral pattern starting from the outside. You can add as few or as many as you like, just be sure to leave little gaps for steam to escape.
11. Mix an egg in a small bowl with a little water and brush it over the pie crust to create that shiny golden brown finish.
12. Transfer the pie dish to a baking sheet lined with foil (very important, because your pie filling will bubble over in the oven) and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes. Then, reduce oven to 350°F and bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is set, about 1 hour 15 minutes. I like to turn my pie half-way through so it browns evenly, and I start checking it every 5 minutes at the 1-hour mark to make sure the crust doesn’t burn.
13. Let the pie cool completely before you top it with vanilla ice cream and dig in!
