As Valentine’s Day creeps up, what better way to show that loved one, be it any relationship, how much you cherish them, with this simple, elegant and gorgeous strawberry tart! You can make the crust days/weeks/hours ahead and pop into freezer, and just cook to perfection for the ultimate breakfast in bed! If you do that- you’re guaranteed to spring a HUGE smile from whomever the lucky person is, who gets to dig in! Better yet, use a heart shaped mold for added Valentine’s effect.
Ingredients: adapted from Vegan Pie in the Sky
1. Shortbread Tart Shell (recipe below)
2. 1 pack of vanilla ice cream/double crème, to serve
3. 4 cups strawberries, sliced 1/4th inch thick
4. 2 tbs cornflour
5. 2 tbs lemon juice
6. 1/3 cup castor sugar
Method:
1. Distribute the crust equally among the tart pans. One at a time, firmly press the dough into the sides and bottom of the tart pan. Poke he crust all over with a fork and freeze for approximately 30 minutes. This helps during the baking process, as it will prevent the crust from puffing up.
2. Preheat the oven to 190*c. Place the frozen tart pans on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside. (Leave the oven on!)
3. While the crust is baking for the 10 minutes, mix together ingredients 3-6. I suggest that if the strawberries are quite tart, skip the lemon juice or adjust to taste.
4. Once the tart pans are cool enough to handle, line the strawberries in each tart and spoon over the remaining juice from the mixture. You may have some strawberries left over!
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or more depending on size of the tart pan used, until crust is brown and filling is bubbling to be eaten.
6. Remove and set to cool, and you can spoon over a bit of the crème onto the tarts to that they get a bit melty, or serve on the side. These are great warm and even wonderful cooled for a while in the refrigerator.
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Shortbread Tart Shell:
1. 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
2. ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
3. 1/8thtsp salt
4. 3/4thcup unsalted butter
Method: In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and salt. Cut the butter into cubes and add to the mixture, and mix well using a pastry cutter, or your fingers! Cling wrap and freeze/place in fridge depending on when you wish to use it!
Feedback:
1. The recipe shells out 6 X 4” tarts, but I made 2 X 6” tarts and froze the remaining for later!
2. The tarts taste wonderful after having cooled to room temperature and spending some time chilling in the fridge, if you have the patience for it!
3. As earlier mentioned, it’s important to make sure that the strawberries are not too tart, if they are be sure to skip the lemon juice altogether.
