Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie

What a strawberry season we had this year in Oregon.  With the warm weather they started two weeks early and with the cool weather in June the strawberries are still great!   Fresh strawberry pie is a traditional dessert during the strawberry season and I added some extra goodies to make it a Fresh From Oregon mouth watering pie.  Chocolate + Hazelnuts gives this pie a rich and delicious flavor that will have everyone coming back for seconds!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie
1 quart (about 2 pounds) fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
juice 1/2 lemon
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust
1/2# chocolate wafers
1 cup toasted hazelnuts, finely chopped
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place pie crust in a 9″ pie plate and flute the edges.  Prick with fork over the bottom and the sides, about 40 times.  Place piece of foil inside pie crust, lightly pressing around bottom edges of crust. Fill with dried beans to help keep the crust’s shape.  Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven and remove beans and foil.  Return to oven and bake another 5 minutes until edges are golden brown.  Place on wire rack and cool.

Wash strawberries and remove the green tops and core.  Sort the strawberries to get about 1/2 of them close to the same size, set aside.  Chop the remaining 1/2 of the strawberry in a food processor.  Place the chopped strawberries in a sauce pan and begin to cook over medium heat.  Mix sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl; add to the sauce pan of strawberries.  Add lemon juice and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.  Set aside and cool.

In a bowl over simmering water melt the chocolate.  Dip the remaining whole strawberries about 3/4 of the way and roll in the chopped hazelnuts.  Place on baking sheet to allow the chocolate to set.

To assemble the pie pour the fresh strawberry filling in the bottom of the baked pie shell.  Add the chocolate/hazelnut dipped strawberries chocolate side up until the pie is filled.  Cover with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours.

In bowl of a mixer place the whipping cream and confectioner sugar and beat with a wire whisk until whipped.  When you are ready to serve top each piece of pie with a large spoonful of the whip topping!