Well then, that must have been my problem because I did double the recipe!! I didn't realize you couldn't! I know you're not supposed to fool around with amounts in recipes so you keep the acid ratio correct, but where this was just strawberries and sugar and nothing else in the recipe I figured it was ok! I guess not! And I measured out 4 quarts of whole strawberries. The recipe was 2 quarts of strawberries and 6 cups of sugar. It didn't say to cut them or mash them before measuring - in fact (I'm remembering off the top of my head here as I don't have the book with me) it said to crush the strawberries one layer at a time and then to mix with the sugar, so it sounded to me like you measured the whole strawberries, then crushed them and that's what I did. I'm not going to fuss with what I already made - as I said, it won't go to waste as hubby will use it as pancake topping - we've even been known to plop a spoonful of jam in a bowl of oatmeal, so this stuff will work for that as well. But I'm glad I spoke up because for future adventures in jam, I wouldn't have known any of this and would probably have given up on it if I kept failing! And I thought it was weird that the jam recipe that used the pectin used an extra cup of sugar from the one without pectin. I've learned so much from just this thread - thanks so much guys! I want to take my next adventure into the realm of peaches! Peach jam sounds yummy and if I fail again, hubby does like peaches, so he'll have more pancake topping than he knows what to do with lol!! Lisa

I have been reading the many suggestions and I am relatively new to pie baking and have learned a lot here. As far as soggy crusts go, I happened on the thought that a light layer of cream cheese might taste good with making my first pie which happened to be strawberry. I used a small spatula to apply the cream cheese on the bottom and half way up. Several of my friends commented on the the fact that it was not soggy. Next I made a Canadian apple pie and I mixed the cream cheese (use about 3 ounces) with maple paste, and applied that as before. I also added 3 TBSP cornstarch to the maple syrup and liquid from apples I had seasoned and froze 6 months ago, cooked it and made a nice somewhat thickened sauce which I added the apples to and voilà, a nice firm crust and no runny pie. Also, thanks for the suggestions from Annie and Lindac to use pyrex, place pie on lower half of oven and start at 425f and lower in 10 min. to 350. Someone just brought me fresh blackberries and I'm all pumped up to make this pie without cream cheese to see if it works for me as well.

homemade tagliatelle and shrimp..with my preserved Meyer lemons..and...if you want the recipe let me know...it is SO yum !

Make a nut crust. I chop nuts real fine, add butter and Splenda, bake or toast nuts before using. Can use for a crumb topping also. The toasted nut flavor is great! This is the best way to have a crust when diabetic.