Deep Dish Strawberry Pie

Ingredients

• 1 pastry for a 9-inch deep dish pie crust
• 0.5 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 quarts fresh strawberries, hulled, divided
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 0.75 cup ginger ale
• 3.5 tablespoons cornstarch

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. Roll out pastry dough to fit a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate; press into pie plate. Prick bottom and sides of dough with a fork.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until lightly brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
4. Melt chocolate chips in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, 1 to 3 minutes. Paint melted chocolate on bottom and up sides of pie crust; freeze to harden, about 30 minutes.
5. Place prettiest strawberry, cut-side down, in center of crust. Arrange as many strawberries as possible in a single layer around center strawberry, radiating from center outwards to crust sides.
6. Mash remaining strawberries in a bowl; transfer to a saucepan. Add sugar and lemon juice; bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
7. Whisk ginger ale and cornstarch together in a bowl until smooth; gradually stir into mashed strawberry mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool, about 5 minutes.
8. Spoon strawberry sauce over strawberries in pie shell. Chill in the refrigerator until pie sets, 8 hours to overnight.