Giant Strawberries Strawberry Pie

Since being pregnant, I have been eating a lot more fruits.  Every time I go to Costco, I decide on 2 fruits to buy and finish them all in about a week.  Costco had 4 pound of strawberries for $6.99 the past few times I've been there.  The first time I got them, I finished all 4 lbs on my own in less than a week.  They are giant strawberries and very sweet.  The second time I got them, I decided to make a strawberry pie.

I bought store bought crust because I find it a pain to make it on my own.  After baking the crust in the oven according to directions, I coated the bottom and 1/2 of the sides of the crust with a thin layer of chocolate.  I often find strawberry pie to be soggy because of the glaze.  The chocolate will prevent mushy crust.

For the glaze, put about 8 oz of strawberries and 3/4 cup of sugar into the food processor.  After processing, add the mixture to a pot and bring it to boil.  In a separate bowl, mix 3/4 cup of water with 3 tbsp of cornstarch.  After the strawberry mixture boils, add the cornstarch/water to the pot.  Stir until it thickens. 

Arrange the 24 oz of strawberries in the baked crust, pour strawberry glaze over berries.  Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours so the glaze will set.  Top with whipped cream and serve.

We devoured the pie!  The entire pie was gone in less than a day!  One of our guest tasters said it was so good he couldn't believe how fast he gobbled it up.  That's what I like to hear...

Very Dense Red Velvet Cupcakes

Last year, I made purple velvet cupcakes for my mother-in-law's birthday.  Since then, I have been searching for a red velvet cake recipe that actually tasted good.  A recipe where people said "mmm, I want some more."  I was watching this show called "The Next Great Baker" and contestant, Pam, made red velvet cupcakes that won her the top award during that challenge.  I found her blog and recipe.  So I decided to make her version and hoped they were to die for.

I followed her recipe completely and the results were a little disappointing.  The cupcakes looked good and were very red.  But they only tasted slightly better than okay.  The flavor was good but the cupcakes were too dense.  They weren't at all fluffy and didn't taste like cake.  The recipe made 24 cupcakes and good thing I was able to give them all away.  I guess I'll have to continue my search for a better red velvet recipe.

PB + Jelly = always a good combo

These have been on my "to try" list for quite a while.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

The only changes I made were to use raspberry preserves instead of jelly (yuck), use 1/2 whole wheat flour, and a little less sugar.  Even though I had never made the recipe before, they tasted great to me!  I also did not line the pan with parchment and just used non-stick cooking spray.  The dough was easy to work with and I was able to spread it with my fingers.

I gave them all away and am now wishing I had some left!