Simple strawberry pie

In my opinion one of the simplest pies that can be made at home is the strawberry pie.  Once you have tried this recipe, you will never be able to go back to what you previously thought was a good pie.  In this recipe you can taste the strawberries...their summer fullness and freshness...and the not all the sugar that is used in bakery pie.

Here is how to do it:

Ingredients:
1 (9-inch) pie crust baked
1 quart of fresh strawberries
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup orange juice

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 450 (F)
2.  Roll out pie crust, place in pie plate, flute edges, and pierce bottom with a fork.  Lightly sprinkly with your house cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Bake at 450 (F) for 12 minutes or until a golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool on rack.
3.  Arrange half of the strawberries in baked pastry shell.  Mash remaining berries* and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan.  Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Stirring frequently.
4.  In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and orange juice.  Gradually stir cornstarch into boiling strawberry mixture.  Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes.  Pour mixture over berries in pastry shell.  Chill for several hours before serving.

Serve with each slice topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream (homemade of course).

*The berries are washed and hulled.