Red Velvet Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie

Red Velvet Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie

by Sarah Deller

For Crust:

1 package Red-Velvet Oreos, about 24 cookies (or regular Oreos if red velvet is not available)

5 TBSP. SALTED butter, melted

For Chocolate covered Strawberries:

About 15 – 20 strawberries

10oz. Ghirardelli Chocolate Baking Chips, melted

½ TBSP. Vegetable Oil

Toothpicks

Foam Block

For Meringues:

4 egg whites, room temperature

1 TBSP white vinegar

1 TBSP corn starch

1 cup sugar

3 TBSP strawberry JELL-O gelatin powder

8 oz. dark chocolate melting wafers, melted

½ TBSP. Vegetable Oil

For Filling:

3 cups of sliced strawberries

1 tsp. lemon zest

1 TBSP. lemon juice

2 TBSP. corn starch

2 TBSP. Cocoa Powder

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. red food coloring

½ tsp. kosher salt

            Make Meringues first.  Preheat oven to 200F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  In standing mixer, mix egg whites with whisk attachment until foamy (about 30 seconds).  Add in vinegar & cornstarch & continue running machine on medium-high for about another minute until soft peaks form.  Slowly add in sugar and gelatin powder.  Beat for 3 minutes or so until stiff peaks form.  Fill pastry bag with meringue & pipe onto baking sheets.  Bake for 90 minutes.  Turn oven off & leave in over for an additional 2 hours.  Remove & cool completely.  Then dip meringues into the melted dark chocolate (use vegetable oil to help w/ the consistency) & let set on fresh parchment paper lines baking sheet in refrigerator.

            Make Chocolate Covered Strawberries.   Wash & dry strawberries completely – Leave green stems in-tact.  Melt chocolate with veg. oil.   Stick a toothpick into the stem of the strawberry.   Dip in chocolate & then place toothpick into foam so strawberry is sticking up & this way won’t have a flat side to the strawberry.  Repeat with remaining strawberries.  Refrigerate to set.

            Make Crust.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Crush Oreos using a Food Processor.  Add melted butter (most recipes call for unsalted butter, but I like the salted butter better for this crust).  Press into pie pan.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Cool completely.

            Make filling.  Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil.  Continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.   Let cool.  Pour into pie crust & refrigerate 3 hours or overnight.

            Assemble pie.  Line the perimeter of the pie with the chocolate covered strawberries. Remember to remove toothpicks first & slice off green stems.   Fill the center with the chocolate dipped meringues.   Store pie in the refrigerator, but let sit out for 20 minutes before serving.