May is strawberry month here in Tennessee! Strawberry season generally lasts for about four to six weeks, depending on the weather. If you've never had a freshly picked, locally grown strawberry, you should add it to your bucket list.

Every summer my husband and I go to Bradley Kountry Acres to pick strawberries. It is one of my favorite summer activities, and has become a much celebrated tradition in our household!

Their strawberries are the sweetest, most tender, little morsels. I never make it out of there without stained fingertips and strawberry juice on my face.

Just like the past four years, Cathy Bradley and her cousin were there to tell us where to find the most strawberries. This year Chris won for most strawberries picked, but just by a few ounces. (He's going to be super excited about that photo)

Usually we pick about three to four buckets of strawberries, but this time we we had to scale back a bit due to the size of the freezer in our new house. I'm fairly certain our freezer was designed by someone with only ice cube and frozen pea storage in mind, this does not work for me.

So now I have strawberry anxiety. This happens during every season, most recently with citrus season, I get nervous that I didn't eat enough of said fruit/vegetable and now the season is about to end. Luckily, the beginning of strawberry season has softened the blow of citrus season's ending. It is about to be blueberry season, which will be closely followed by blackberry season. Until we can get a new fridge/freezer, I've taken to bribing people with berry desserts in exchange for freezer space.

This pie is my newest bribery tool! I saw this pie in the May 2016 issue of Bon Appétit, and knew I had to try it. It is a fairly non complicated pie to make, but it is a bit involved.

The salty pistachio crumble is the PERFECT compliment to the natural sweetness of the strawberries. All of my gracious taste testers made this comment without prompting, so I felt it was worth mentioning! 

The strawberries are the show stopper of this recipe. Only 1/4 cup of sugar is used to macerate the strawberries. The sugar draws out liquid from the strawberries and creates a delicious syrup to help fill out the pie. The strawberry fruit swims in a sweet syrup right on top of a rich layer of cashew cream.

Instead of the traditional pie crust, I used rolled oats and brown rice flour to create a tart-like crust.  I think it complements the strawberries and cashew cream really nicely! I also like the idea of using grains that have more nutritional benefits. 

The original recipe calls for two tablespoons of cream cheese. We don't really eat cream cheese, and I always prefer to use as many raw ingredients as possible. Instead of cream cheese, I chose to use cashew cream.

Cashew cream is a great non-dairy, vegan alternative to cream cheese and it tastes better, in my opinion. (although growing up lactose intolerant, I have a rather underdeveloped taste for dairy foods) It is healthier and there are no sneaky added ingredients. The most time consuming part of cashew cream is letting the cashews soak, otherwise its all about throwing the ingredients into a blender!

Make this pie for your next summer get together. Use strawberries from a local farm if you can! You'll be the star of the show... well, second star, after the pie. Post a pic of your beautiful creation on Instagram, tag me @corrielanderson, and use #itsallofit!

What is your favorite type of pie to make? Do you have any go to recipes? I would love to hear about them! Leave me a comment below!

Strawberry Pistachio Crumble Pie

Recipe Author: Corrie Anderson, with inspiration from the feature on Sister Pie in the May 2016 issue of Bon Appétit, I used a different crust and exchanged the cream cheese with cashew cream, and used coconut oil in place of butter.
Recipe Type: Dessert, gluten-free, dairy-free
Serves: 8 - 10

Crust

• 1 cup rolled oats

• 3/4 cup brown rice flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 4 tablespoons coconut oil

• 3 tablespoons maple syrup

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cashew Cream**

• 1 cup cashews, soaked for 4 to 24 hours

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/2 lemon, juiced

• 1/4 cup coconut milk, full fat

• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• **You can also use two tablespoons of regular cream cheese

Strawberry Filling

• 2 lb strawberries, hulled and halved

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 5 tablespoons arrowroot flour or tapioca starch

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Pistachio Crumble

• 1/4 cup pistachios, finely chopped

• 1/2 cup brown rice flour

• 1/2 cup rolled oats

• 1/4 cup

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 6 tablespoons coconut oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 340 degrees. Drizzle olive oil into the pie pan and use your hands to make sure the pan is fully coated. To make the crust, put rolled oats, brown rice flour, baking powder, and salt into a food processor. Pulse several times. Then add coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Pulse until mixture sticks together a bit. Press crust mixture into the pan, and pop into the oven for about 8 - 10 minutes.

2. Toss cashews, coconut milk, water, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt into a blender. Blend until you can't see little pieces of cashews in the cream. You can put this in the fridge until you're ready to use!

3. Toast pistachios on a rimmed baking sheet for about five minutes. Let cool, and then chop finely or pulse in a food processor a couple of times. Mix pistachios, brown rice flour, rolled oats, sugar, lemon zest, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl. Use your fingers to add in the coconut oil and work until no dry spots remain and the crumble holds together. Pop into the fridge until you're ready to top your pie.

4. Toss strawberries, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a large bowl. Combine well. Spread 1/4 cup cashew cream or 2 tablespoons of cream cheese on the bottom of the crust. Top with strawberry mixture, and sprinkle pistachio crumble on top of the pie. Pop into oven and bake for 70 minutes. Let pie cool completely before cutting!