Strawberries!!

Last Saturday we went to Homestead Farm in Maryland for some strawberry picking. The strawberries were SO delicious and we unintentionally picked over 10 pounds. It turns out that our family has no problem using up 10 pounds of strawberries in a few days.

First up, 24 jars of delicious strawberry jam:



We needed something yummy to try it out on, so I made my favorite biscuits:



Then it was time for strawberry desserts. This was my first attempt at making a tart. I don't know why it took me so long to get a tart pan:



My friend Sarah introduced me to this delicious and quite easy strawberry tart recipe. I used an 11 inch tart pan and the recipe called for a 9 inch, but I think it turned out okay.

Strawberry Tart

Crust:
1 1/4 cups flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 to 2 lbs strawberries, hulled and halved
1/4 cup red currant jelly

Crust: Preheat oven to 350*. In a food processor, blend flour, butter, sugar, and salt until moist crumbs form. Transfer dough to a 9” round tart pan with a removable bottom. With floured fingers, press dough evenly into pan and up sides. Dip a dry-measuring cup in flour, and use it to press dough firmly into bottom and against sides of pan. Freeze crust until firm, 10-15 minutes. Using a fork, prick crust all over. Bake until golden, 20-25 min, pressing down gently once or twice with a spoon during baking if crust puffs up. Cool completely in pan. (Note: The crust really hardens up after cooling, so be sure to not overbake. It will get really hard. It tastes like a shortbread cookie crust.)

Filling: In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth; spread mixture evenly in bottom of baked crust (still in tart pan). Starting from outside edge, arrange strawberry halves, stemmed side down, in tight concentric circles on cream cheese (alternate cut strawberry side with each circle). In a small saucepan, heat jelly on med-low until liquefied. Gently brush strawberries with jelly; let set at least 20 minutes. Chill in pan at least 1 hour (and up to 6 hours); remove from pan just before serving.


And finally, Strawberry Brown Butter Bars. YUM! The recipe was originally made with cherries, but strawberries were so delicious. You can find the recipe here.