On Thursday we visited a local farm for some ‘pick your own’ strawberries and raspberries. We ended up with far too many strawberries so I needed something to do with them.

I found this recipe here and tweaked it a little to switch the full-fat milk for a non-dairy oat milk.

In the original recipe it is split into three sections but I’ve brought them all together for ease. Though you’ll need to make the pastry in advance and let it chill in the fridge before rolling and baking. Similarly, the lemon cream needs to be made then allowed to cool before going into the pastry.

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Serves: 8

Ingredients

For the pastry

• 90g very cold non-dairy margarine (Flora Buttery)
• 220g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 80g icing sugar
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 egg yolks

For the lemon cream

• 5 egg yolks
• 150g caster sugar
• 50g plain flour
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 500ml oat milk

For the pie

• 300g fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

Method

• Chocolate pastry
  • Sieve all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well
  • In another bowl beat the egg yolks and vanilla extract together then scrape into the dry ingredients.
  • Break up the margarine into the bowl with the other ingredients and mix with your hands to form a dough.
  • If it’s a bit too dry add some very cold water 1 tsp at a time until it comes together.
  • Cover and put in the fridge for an hour.
• Lemon cream
  • Put the milk in a pan and warm it. Don’t allow it to boil because it’ll be too hot and casuse the egg yolks to set too early.
  • Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a medium-large pan.
  • Add the flour and lemon zest a little at a time, mixing well to avoid lumps.
  • Slowly pour the milk in, beating vigorously to avoid lumps. DO NOT do this over heat.
  • Once the milk and egg/flour mixture is well incorporated, put it on a low to medium heat and stir all the time until it starts to think to the consistency of double cream. Remove from the heat and let it cool for an hour.
    • It is really important to stir/whisk all the time you are heating the mixture. If you don’t do this the eggs will set and scramble.
• The pie
  • Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan / 400°F / Gas mark 6)
  • Take the chilled pastry from the fridge and rollout to about 3-5 mm thickness. Use it to line a tart tin (25 – 28cm in diameter should do).
  • Pour the cooled lemon cream into the pastry, spreading it evenly to fill the base.
  • Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until the pastry is cooked and the cream has set a little.
  • Let it cool for an hour.
  • Thinly slice the strawberries from top to bottom, the look nicer like that, and arrange on top of the pie. Dust with the 1 tbsp of icing sugar, don’t use caster sugar as the original recipe says because the icing sugar will dissolve on the strawberries and give them a lovely, glazed look.

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