Springtime Strawberry Rhubarb pie

This recipe is at least 200 years old, and competes with apple as my favorite dessert! Tangy rhubarb, sweet strawberries, and THE pie crust! I dare you to present a better Spring treat! In my head canon, Alastor likes this dessert, because it's a balance of sweet and tangy.

A note about rhubarb:

This vegetable resembles a pink/red celery, but is related to sorrel and buckwheat, while celery is in the parsley family. Pink stalks are young, while red stalks are older - avoid the green parts and leaves, as the leaves contain oxalic acid, which is toxic in large amounts.

Keep rhubarb away from animals!

Old rhubarb has very tough skin and "strings" on the flat side or the stalk. Used a sharp knife to cut them away.

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9-10 inches flaky pie double crust for any pie

10 Tbsp frozen butter, frozen overnight
10 Tbsp cold shortening
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
8-10 Tbsp cold water

1. Mix the flour, salt, and sugar together.

2. Break the shortening into small pieces and cut these into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter.

3. Grate the frozen butter and fold gently into flour mixture.

4. After all of this is mixed together, it will be very crumbly! Add the water a bit at a time and mix it into the flour  mixture until it is slightly wet and sticky.

5. Refrigerate this for about one hour.

6. Remove your chilling pie crust. Divide the chilled dough in half. WITH A PREPARED (flour rubbed onto them) ROLLER STOCKINETTE AND PASTRY CLOTH, roll out the bottom crust about 1" beyond the diameter of the pie pan. IF THE DOUGH IS TOO STICKY, SPRINKLE WITH EXTRA FLOUR.

7. You can use food scissors to cut the dough into a lovely circle to fit your pie pan. :3

8. After the dough is rolled, fold it in half, and then again, so that it looks like a fat pizza slice. Transfer this to your pie pan and unfold it to line the pan.

9. Place the pie pan on an aluminum-lined baking sheet. Now make the filling.

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Filling:
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2 cups strawberries, washed, hulled, and quartered
2 cups pink/red rhubarb, washed and chopped into 1/2" slices
3/4c - 1 c sugar
1/2 c flour (for thickening the fruit juice)
1 1/2 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 425f.

1. Mix the flour and sugar together. In a large bowl, combine the strawberries, rhubarb, and the flour sugar until evenly coated.

2. Pour the pie filling into the crust dough-lined pan. Add a couple of pats of butter on top of the filling.

3. Repeating the rolling process with the flour rubbed stockinette and flour rubbed pastry cloth, make your top crust dough. Sprinkle on some flour if the dough is too sticky.

4. Unfold your top crust and pinch it to the bottom crust to seal them. Sealing the edges with water makes it easier. You can cut away excess dough and place these trips around the pie to bake into crust cookies.

5. Cut a few slits into the top crust.

6. Brush the top crust and any crust cookies with the beaten egg whites and sprinkle on the sugar. This makes the best sugar crackle crust!

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Baking:
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7. Put the pie (still on the aluminum-lined baking sheet) into the oven and cook until the "crust cookies" are lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Remove the cookies and reduce the oven heat to 375f.

8. Bake the pie until the fruit juice bubbles up through at least one of the slits, about 50 minutes. Bubbling juice is my personal way to determine if a pie is fully cooked.

9. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least three hours. Delicious warm or cold!