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Sunday, April 1, 2012

Rustic Individual Strawberry Tarts



When I first saw this recipe, I thought, "I bet these would be really good, and so cute!" And then I reviewed the recipe and thought, "wow, that's quite a bit of labor." When I saw what the yield was I thought, "that's it? Holy crap that's a lot of work." And then I decided to make them anyway. I've never made a tart.
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c cake flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, chilled, cut up
3 tbsp vegetable shortening, chilled
4 to 5 tbsp cold water

FILLING
3 1/2 c sliced strawberries (1 1/4 lb.)
4 tbsp sugar, divided
2 tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp seedless raspberry preserves, melted

Combine all-purpose flour, cake flour, 2 tablespoons sugar and salt in a large bowl.
 

Add butter and shortening; cut into flour mixture with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs with some pea-size pieces are achieved.
 

Add 4 tablespoons of the water. Distribute moisture evenly through flour with a fork by drawing flour from the bottom of the bowl to the top, pressing chunks down to the bottom with the fork.
 

Add additional water by teaspoons as needed.
 
I added a fifth tablespoon.

Test the dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble-sized ball of dough in
your hand. If it holds together firmly, do not add any additional water. If the
dough crumbles, add more water by the tablespoonful, until dough is moist enough
to form a smooth ball when pressed together.

Looks good.

Shape into 2 (5-inch) squares. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until chilled. (Dough can be made 2 days ahead.)
 

Meanwhile, heat oven to 375ºF. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.


Combine strawberries, 2 tablespoons of the sugar and tapioca in large bowl.
  

Between plastic sheets or on lightly floured surface, roll 1 piece of dough into 18-1/2x6-1/2-inch rectangle; trim uneven edges. Cut into 3 (6-inch) squares.
 
 

Repeat with remaining dough.
  

Place between sheets of waxed paper. Cover; refrigerate 30 minutes or until chilled.

Place 1 square on parchment paper-lined rimmed baking sheet. Lightly brush edges with water. With slotted spoon, place about 1/2 cup strawberries in dough square, leaving excess juice in bowl.
  

Fold corners of square towards center, pinching edges together and leaving center open.

Whoops, forgot about the open center part on this one.

Repeat with remaining squares. Lightly brush tarts with water; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
 
The first and last formed tarts.

Apparently I had prepared twice the strawberries necessary.


Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling.


Place tarts on wire rack; gently brush strawberries with preserves.

Cool 15 to 30 minutes or until filling is set; serve warm, or cool completely.


These little tarts were certainly fun to eat and quite flavorful. The crust was exceptional - I really liked the hint of butter and it was quite flaky and light, just as pastry crust should be. The strawberry filling, a little more oozy than I'd anticipated, was very good, the strawberries allowed to shine. The omitted raspberry preserves may have added a little pizzazz but the tarts didn't seem as though they were lacking.

Preparing the crust and strawberries was a cinch. Rolling the crust out was a little annoying since you need a rectangle and you start with a square. I'd consider forming the dough into two rectangles, say 3x6" before refrigerating them and rolling them out. When forming the little tarts by bringing up the corners and pinching the edges together was frustrating for me because the dough was much too soft.

My mistake was thinking I'd save myself some time by skipping the chilling step after cutting the squares. You'll likely get much better results if you chill. You can see the difference in results between the first and last formed tarts -- the warmer the dough, the harder it was to keep nice edges and square tarts. And after baking, it was clear my edge-pinching wasn't the greatest as the tarts essentially unraveled in the oven.

One thing I knew, but was blatantly obvious when pulling the tarts from the oven, was just how un-level my oven is. I should spend some time goofing around with the legs of my oven to even it out so that any strawberry juices in the future don't rush toward the back of my oven to pool.

Will I make them again? Not likely as individual tarts. The labor:reward ratio isn't good enough for me to do that. I think a big tart might be doable. But you never know. I do wonder whether they'd come out perfect with that single chilling step.

Cost:
  • flour: $0.33
  • cake flour: $0.22
  • sugar: $0.13
  • butter: $0.50
  • shortening: $0.37
  • strawberries: $2.13
  • tapioca: $0.52
Total: $4.20 or $0.70 for each of six tarts.


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