Strawberry Rhubarb Vanilla Bean Pie with Chevron Crust

Posted by: Nicole Dula on Jul 1 2014

This pie was a little miracle that happened while we were visiting the west side of Michigan recently. My sister-in-law and I made plans to walk to the farmers market and do a little browsing and buying without anything particular in mind. The Holland farmers market has a great selection of produce and flowers, so it doesn’t even make sense to have much of a plan. The peonies were clearly the star of the market and Bethany chose a bouquet of deep fuchsia peonies to take home.

Aren’t these succulents great? They were planted in cement containers and I just wanted to take one home and try not to kill it. The one downside to walking to the market is that you can only buy what you can carry. Maybe next time.

As we wandered the market, the strawberries were so fragrant that we just had to buy some. We also saw the prettiest ruby-hued rhubarb, which I have trouble finding in my area. Something strawberry rhubarb was decided on quickly and then we were talking pie.

Without my food processor and pastry blender, I was left with the two knives option of cutting the butter into the flour for the crust. It worked! It took longer than with my food processor, but clean up was much easier and you get a little wrist workout. Bethany wanted a unique crust and decided we should do a chevron top. I made a little guide with a piece of aluminum foil to keep my chevron pattern consistent and it turned out pretty cute!

Your typical strawberry pie can be a bit watery without a thickener, but the rhubarb helps this pie set up nicely. I’m not a big fan of gelatin in my fruit pies, so this pie turned out perfect. Just seasonal fruit doing its thing. I added fragrant vanilla bean to the filling and it’s optional, but I highly recommend it. When filling the pie, I transferred the fruit with a slotted spoon as not to transfer too much liquid into the pie. The resulting hot pink fruit juice with vanilla bean flecks left in the bowl was too good to waste. Bethany and I added it to our drinks that we sipped while the pie baked. SO good.

If you get excited about the tastes of summer like me, I’m sure you’ll love a slice of summer in the form of strawberry rhubarb pie with cute crust. Summer forever.

Print Recipe

Strawberry Rhubarb Vanilla Bean Pie with Chevron Crust

Serves 8

Your strawberry rhubarb mixture will accumulate a lot of juice as it sits. Do not add the excess juice to the pie, but reserve and add to smoothies or a cocktail, like we did. It’s so good! You will have excess pie dough after creating your chevron strips. Roll out the extra pie dough and sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon and bake until golden brown, if you like.

Ingredients

All-Butter Double Pie Crust

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
7-12 tablespoons ice water
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Strawberry Rhubarb Vanilla Bean Filling

1 pound of rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 pound of strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup cornstarch or arrowroot powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

All-Butter Double Pie Crust

Add the flour, salt and sugar from the pie crust ingredient list to a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. Cut cold butter into small cubes with a sharp knife and add to the food processor and pulse in short pulses 2 or 3 times, no more, until the butter looks chopped into small, even pea-sized pieces. Do not over-pulse. (Alternatively, you can add the dry ingredients to a bowl, whisk, add cold butter cubes and use a pastry blender to cut butter into the flour until the butter is about the size of peas. Add 7 tablespoons of water and mix again with pastry blender. Add ice water 2 tablespoons at a time and blend until dough is no longer floury and can be pinched between the fingers easily.)
In a 1 or 2 cup measuring cup, fill with water and add an ice cube or two. Add 7 tablespoons of the ice water to the food processor and quickly pulse twice. The amount of water you need depends on temperature and type of flour, so start with 7 tablespoons and get a feel from there. Add two more tablespoons and pulse twice, again. Repeat until the mixture starts to pull from the sides of the food processor and is easily pinched between your fingers.
Empty contents onto a large silicone mat or a lightly floured surface and using your hands, quickly form into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and put into the fridge to chill for at least an hour.

Strawberry Rhubarb Vanilla Bean Filling

In a large bowl, add strawberries, rhubarb, vanilla bean seeds, sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and sea salt. Gently mix with a spatula. Set aside.

Pie Assembly and Chevron Crust

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Remove cold pie dough from the fridge and using a bench scraper or sharp knife, cut in half. Wrap up one half and put it back in the fridge. Put the other half on a large silicone mat or on a lightly floured surface.
Using your hands, quickly form dough into a slightly flattened disk. Dust the dough with a little flour and rub flour onto your rolling pin. Roll the dough, turn the disk a quarter turn and roll again. Repeat, turning a quarter turn in between each roll to keep the dough in a circle. Roll until dough is about 1/8 inch thick. To transfer dough to your pie plate, roll dough loosely on top of itself onto your rolling pin and then gently unroll it onto your pie plate. Settle the dough into your pie plate, making sure the overhang is pretty even and prick the dough with a fork in several spots.
Use a slotted spoon to add the pie filling without any of the accumulated juices to the pie plate. If there is a lot of crust over-hang, gently fold it in a bit so it isn’t dragging. Put the whole thing in the fridge to chill while you roll out the second pie crust. Remove the other half of the pie dough and repeat with the rolling instructions above. Take a piece of aluminum foil and create a template for your chevron. Use guide to cut about 7 strips of chevron for the top of the crust. Get pie plate from the fridge. Arrange chevron strips on top of the pie.
Cut excess pie dough and chevron ends, so that you have an inch of dough all around. You can borrow any excess dough to fill in any skimpy parts. Roll the one inch of excess pie dough inward as if you were rolling paper into a scroll until you have a nice ring of dough around the edge of your pie plate. Using your thumb and pointer from one hand in a pinching motion and your pointer knuckle from the other hand, make a pretty pinch pattern around the edge.
With a pastry brush, lightly brush the beaten egg all over the lattice and on the chevron part of the crust. Using about two tablespoons of turbinado sugar, shake the sugar evenly all over the crust.
Use a silicone pie shield or cover pie with aluminum foil to cover pie, so it does not burn and place the pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any pie juices. Bake the pie at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees F and bake for another 30 minutes. Remove the pie shield or foil and bake for another 25-30 minutes, a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes baking time. If at any time the top becomes too brown, you can cover the whole pie in aluminum foil and continue to bake. If you have a glass pie plate, check to make sure the bottom is cooked. Allow to cool completely before digging in.

19 Notes Leave a Note

Amy | Club Narwhal said on July 1, 2014 at 10:26 am :

Nicole, this pie is a total beaut! I love strawberry rhubarb pie so much and yours is absolutely gorgeous. Digging that chevron topper!

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- nicoledula said on July 1, 2014 at 11:06 am :
  
  Thanks so much, Amy! Your birthday party pies were so dang pretty, too! Go Warren!
  
  Reply
Cindy said on July 1, 2014 at 1:30 pm :

So cute! There are few things better than a fresh fruit pie…especially such a ruby hued one.

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- nicoledula said on July 1, 2014 at 1:37 pm :
  
  I completely agree! Thanks, Cindy!
  
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Sini | my blue&white kitchen said on July 1, 2014 at 4:39 pm :

Such a delicious looking pie filled with this season’s best fruit. Perfect!

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- nicoledula said on July 2, 2014 at 9:53 am :
  
  Thanks, Sini!
  
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Kate said on July 4, 2014 at 12:03 am :

Nicole, that crust looks so cool! I’ve never seen chevron pie before. I’m a sucker for everything strawberry rhubarb so I’m totally drooling over here.

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- nicoledula said on July 6, 2014 at 11:22 pm :
  
  I love strawberry rhubarb anything, too! Thanks, Kathryne!
  
  Reply
Mentioned on: Currently Crushing On. | How Sweet It Is
Meg said on July 5, 2014 at 3:14 pm :

Wow! I never thought of making a chevron pattern, but that looks lovely. Bravo!

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- nicoledula said on July 6, 2014 at 11:27 pm :
  
  Thanks, Meg! I’m glad the experimental cute crust paid off!
  
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Millie | add a little said on July 6, 2014 at 3:26 am :

This looks amazing Nicole! The chevron crust is swoon-worthy!
http://youtube.com/addalittlefood

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- nicoledula said on July 6, 2014 at 11:28 pm :
  
  Thanks, Millie!
  
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shoko said on July 6, 2014 at 10:56 am :

that crust is so cute! love it.

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- nicoledula said on July 6, 2014 at 11:31 pm :
  
  I’m glad my sister-in-law suggested the chevron! You get to see lots of pretty fruit filling between the chevron, too, which I love.
  
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cynthia said on July 8, 2014 at 8:40 am :

I echo everyone else, the chevron crust has my heart! And that strawberry-rhubarb filling, too — what a perfect summer pie, Nicole.

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- nicoledula said on July 8, 2014 at 11:03 am :
  
  Thanks so much, Cynthia! I love cute pie crusts and I’m glad this one turned out so well and has your heart 🙂
  
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Autumn said on July 13, 2014 at 11:06 am :

Team chevron! You are so talented, lady. I just got a chevron print quilt for my bed, but never would have dreamed up putting it on a pie.

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- nicoledula said on July 14, 2014 at 8:36 am :
  
  Aw, thanks Autumn!
  
  Reply