Strawberry Hearts on Strawberry Tarts...

Valentine's day is long gone and february is almost over. But mom couldn't resist leaving the store without those lovely looking red strawberries. So along came the pack of strawberries with us. They spent another two days in our fridge, often taken out and admired and then kept back, wondering what to make with it. A friend was coming over to spend the day, so decided to make some strawberry tarts (Finally...!!!).

Strawberry Cream Tarts

Tart base:

1/2 cup butter softened
1/8 cup brown sugar + 1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup honey
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream the butter and the sugars in a blender mix until fluffy. Add in the honey. Combine the remaining ingredients until well blended. Flatten the dough and wrap it in cling film and chill for an hour at least.
Preheat the oven to 325 F . Roll the dough to 1/8 " thickness. Use a pastry cutter to cut out dough. Press the dough gently into the tart tins, prick dough with a fork and chill for 5 minutes.
Pop into the oven for about 16-18 minutes. Cool the tart shells before removing from the tins.

Strawberry Lemon cream:

1/4 cup sugar
lemon zest - 1/2 tsp
1 egg
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tblsp butter

3-4 strawberries

Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a sauce pan. Whisk in the egg and lemon juice. Cook the mixture over simmering water, whisking constantly, till the mixture thickens. Take the cream off the heat and let it cool. Keep whisking else the egg will scramble. Strain this into a blender. Add in diced strawberries and butter and blend at high speed till smooth and shiny. Chill this for an hour.

Spoon the strawberry cream into the tart and top them with strawberry hearts.

Serve immediately !!!

Gita