Recipes

Strawberry Tarts

Ok, so I was in Walmart the other day, and I happened upon this small box of tarts on the shelf. They were pre-made, but made with organic & all natural ingredients & I thought, "Hey, maybe Hunter would like these. He loves (usually) strawberries, and maybe he'd like a little "pie" for after dinner. Maybe I could use them as incentive for potty training"....so I put them in the cart.

Then I put them back on the shelf b/c they were somewhere in the area of $3.00 (maybe $2.95-ish?) & I knew that if he loved them, I'd have to keep shelling out $ for something I could most likely make myself. Plus, we're not huge fans of processed stuff & I really do try to make homemade when I can. Plus, that way I can sneak stuff into his food, like veggies. Though not for tarts. :) Also, I've found that if he gets used to a certain texture, it's nearly impossible to get him to switch to something else....even if it's technically the same thing. For example: he'll eat chicken nuggets but only if HEB or Tyson brand, Chick Fil A or my homemade ones. Why? They're crunchy. The Walmart brand has a strange (to him) bread coating & he won't even touch them.

Anyway, so I meandered down to the frozen foods section, b/c I wanted to make a blackberry cobbler this weekend and OH MY GOD there were frozen tart shells for a BUCK!!!! Eight shells for a dollah! I have never in my life made tarts but I figured it couldn't be that hard. So I grabbed a pound of strawberries & hoped I'd have everything I needed in my pantry.

Home I went & looked up a recipe. Made the filling, then had to go pick the husband up from work & get back home before the bus dropped the boy off from school.

I baked them that night & they were DELICIOUS. I'll have to post pics later b/c I only made 2 in case they sucked big time, and I ate them both. Hunter had gone to sleep by the time I got around to baking them & I just couldn't resist, they were SO good. I have 6 more shells & PLENTY of filling & will be making them tonight for the boy's dessert, so I don't feel "that" bad. Because, hey, Moms need treats too.

Anyway, so here's the recipe, courtesy of Cooks.com. Pics will follow later tonight, when I make more. :) My tweaks & comments follow the recipe.

I should probably mention here that while the recipe is awesome, after I posted this & did the update, I tried to feed them to Hunter. He REFUSES to even taste it. I KNOW he'd love them if he just gave them a chance, but he said "I can't like them. They're too yucky". Ok...so this one didn't work out. But that just means more for moi :)

1 qt. fresh strawberries, (sm. to med.)
3/4 c. sugar
Dash of salt
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
6 baked tart shells
1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 c. water
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Wash and hull berries. Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in a small saucepan. Stir in water. Cook, stirring constantly 6 to 8 minutes or until mixture is clear and thickened. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and vanilla. Cool slightly.Arrange whole strawberries, stem end down in tart shells. Spoon glaze over the top. Refrigerate to set glaze. Top with whipped cream or sour cream, if desired. Makes 6 servings. Delicious!

Ok, so I took my pound of strawberries, which I diced & threw in my blender, then dumped into the pot. I then followed the recipe exactly in terms of ingredients & portions, BUT I had no vanilla so I used almond extract. I brought it all to a boil then immediately reduced the heat to simmer & finished the 6-8 mins cooking time.

By the way, if you haven't discovered the beauty that is almond extract, you are seriously missing out. SO good. I love making frosting w/ it.

The shells I used were Dutch Ann frozen tarts & I just put the filling in while they were still frozen & baked about 45 mins at 350. We have a toaster oven & I used the bake setting so your baking time might differ a bit. I started at 30 mins, but the filling was still a bit too wobbly for my taste. I took them out & let them sit for a bit & then had to dive in.

It was love at first bite. It was still a bit runny for me, but not overly so. I think I caught two drips but I was gobbling it up so quickly it didn't have a chance to run down my chin. The second tart I put in a ziplock & left on the counter. This afternoon, I ate it & it was perfectly set.

Not bad for my first attempt at making tarts, I don't think. My tarts did fall a bit, so tonight I'm going to fill them to the top of the crust & see if that helps.

*Update* I made these again last night & the centers were very wobbly. Keep in mind that I'm used to pie, so I'm like bird flying blind here. Anyway, I think it's b/c when I made them the first time around, the filling was room temp & last night, the filling was straight from the fridge cold. Anyway, I let them sit after baking & they still didn't set up like they should have, so I popped 'em in a ziplock & stuck 'em in the fridge. After 20 mins or so, filling was set. OR SO I THOUGHT. Maybe I should use a package of gelatin next time around.