Baking Recipe: Scrumptious Strawberry Tart

This is my very first time having my hands on making Strawberry Tarts. These little decadent tarts are one of my absolute favourite treats, apart from lemon meringue tart. Whenever I travel, I will constantly hunt down a local bakery or dessert shop to sample their tarts. And so far, they have done justice. Hopefully mine taste like summer too.. with loads of heart and love put into it ;).

Note: In my case, I couldn't locate my tart pan so I've decided to make smaller individual tarts using my muffin pan. The recipe below yields approximately 6-8 tarts, depending on the thickness of the shell.

Recipe

For the Crust/ Tart shell
adapted from Martha Stewart

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup or 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

To prepare crust/tart shell:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, blend flour, butter, 1/3 cup sugar and salt until moist crumbs form (this may take up to approx1-2 minutes).

2. Make sure to lightly grease pan with butter and sprinkle flour over the pan.

3. Transfer dough to a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom or muffin pan.

4. With floured fingers, press dough evenly into pan and up sides. Dip a dry measuring cup in flour, and use it to press dough firmly into bottom and against sides of pan. Freeze crust until firm for about 10-15 minutes.

5. Using a form, prick crust all over. Bake until golden, 25-30 minutes, pressing down gently once or twice with a spoon during baking if crust puffs up. Let cool completely in pan before transferring on to wire rack, cake stand or platter.

For the Filling
*If using 9 inches tart pan

1 bar (8 ounces) philly cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered or icing sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 to 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and halved
1/4 cup seedless red current jelly

**If using muffin pan

1/2 bar philly cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup whipping cream
4-6 tbsp powdered or icing sugar
3-4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 -1 tsp vanilla extract
15-16 strawberries, hulled
1/3 cup seedless red current jelly

To prepare filling:

1. With a whisk, whipped whipping cream until soft peak/ stiff consistency. Becareful to not over whip. Transfer to another bowl.

2. Using the same mixing bowl and now with a paddle attachment, mix cream cheese and icing sugar until well combined. Then add in lemon juice a teaspoon at a time and continue to mix and then fold in vanilla extract.

3. With a spatula, fold in half of the whipped cream to cream cheese mix until well combine and then fold in the rest of whipped cream. Gently fold the whipped cream making sure to not let it turn into liquid form.

To assemble strawberry tart:

1. You can choose to glaze the bottom of tart with melted dark/ milk chocolate. Melt chocolate chips with 2-3 teaspoons of milk in a microwave for about 35 seconds making sure to stir and not burn the chocolate. I glazed my tart with melted chocolate to prevent the filling to sip through the tart, making the shell soggy.

2. If you do glaze the bottom of tart, pop the tart shells back in the refridgerator for about 10-15 minutes or until glaze is set.

3. Spoon the filling into the tart shell, and top it with 3 whole and hulled strawberries to each tart.

4. In a small saucepan, heat jelly on medium low until liquefied or heat it in a microwave for 1 minute. Gently brush strawberries with jelly, let set at least 20 minutes. Thaw before serving, if tarts were chilled.

xx