Fresh Vegan Strawberry Pie

To prepare the pie crust, place flour and salt in medium-size, chilled bowl. Break up chilled vegetable shortening and cut into flour with a fork or a pastry blender until there are pea-sized pieces of dough. Slowly add ice water one tablespoon at a time and blend with fork. Do not overwork; blend until just mixed and dough holds together. Refrigerate dough until you are ready to roll it out. On a lightly floured surface, roll out a little more than half of the dough into a 12-inch circle.

Place over a 9-inch pie plate, center, and gently tuck the dough into the pan. Trim the edges and place in the refrigerator.

Roll out the second portion of dough and place and place on parchment paper or floured wax paper on a cookie sheet. Refrigerate until ready to use. In a small saucepan, combine the water and the 2 tablespoons sugar over low to medium heat. Dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil. Cook down or about 3 or 4 minutes, remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes.

Combine the ½ cup sugar with the arrowroot starch.

Place the berries in a large bowl, and toss with the arrowroot mixture. Stir in the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of the sugar syrup and gently stir. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Fill the piecrust with the strawberry mixture. Dot with the pieces of butter. Moisten the edges of the second half of the dough, place it over the fruit, and press the top and bottom edges together.

Cut a few steam vents in the top of the pie.

Bake the pie for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375°F and bake another 40 to 45 minutes, or until the juices bubble. If the crust begins to darken, cover the pie loosely with foil for the final 10 to 15 minutes.