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Strawberry Cream Tarts

June means strawberries and this year there promises to be a bumper crop of English ones. I asked my daughter-in-law what recipe she would like, and she asked for the lovely glazed strawberry tarts you get in France. So here they are - and the glaze does make all the difference. You will need six 10cm (4ins) tartlet tins or any similar that you may have.

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 225g (8oz) plain flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 150g (5oz) butter
  • 1 tablespoon caster sugar
  • 2 egg yolks

Filling

  • 250g (9oz) mascarpone or crėme fraiche
  • 2 tablespoons icing sugar
  • 450g (1lb) strawberries
  • 3 tablespoons apricot jam

Method:

Pastry - sieve the flour and salt, rub in the butter. Stir the sugar and a tablespoon water with the egg yolks and mix into the flour to form a stiff dough. Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.

Heat the oven to Gas 6 / 200C and grease the tins.

Roll out the pastry and cut out circles to line the tins, Avoid stretching it.

Prick the bases and line with kitchen foil. Bake 10 minutes then remove the foil and bake for a further 5 minutes or until golden.

Remove from the tins and cool.

Melt the jam with a tablespoon of water, when boiling, brush the bases of the tarts.

Prepare the strawberries, cutting in halves if large.

Mix the mascarpone or crėme fraiche and icing sugar. Divide between the tarts when the jam is set.

Arrange the strawberries on top. Re-heat the jam and brush over the fruit. Leave to set.

NOTE: assemble these a short time before eating, the pastry tends to soften after a few hours. Instead of tartlets, this can make a flan 20cm / 8ins diameter.

Posted in Recipes on Jun 01, 2011