Floral strawberry tarts for a happy Valentine’s Day (or any other special day for that matter!).
Ingredients (2 servings, 30 minutes prep time + chilling; 20-23 minutes cooking time)
For the Pastry:
150g plain flour
75g unsalted butter, diced
25g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
For the Filling:
125g strawberries, hulled and chopped
60g caster sugar
squeeze of lemon juice
50ml double cream
For the Flower Top:
100g strawberries, hulled and sliced
Directions
- To make the pastry, place the flour and butter in a food processor and blitz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar with a pinch of salt and pulse until combined. Add in the egg yolk with 2-3 tbsp cold water and pulse to bring the mixture together. This makes enough dough for 4 cases – you can bake the tarts then store in an airtight container for a week or freeze them for another occasion. Dust the work surface with flour, quarter the dough and roll out 4 separate circles to fit 10cm tart tins. Press into the tins and trim the edges. Prick the base all over then chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180Cfan/200C/gas 6. Line the tarts with parchment and baking beans and bake for 15 minutes, remove the beans and parchment and cook for a further 5-8 minutes until the base is set and the sides golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- For the filling, place the strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a small pan and simmer for around 5 minutes until syrupy then leave to cool. Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks and and stir in the cooked strawberries. Spoon into the cooled pastry cases.
- To decorate, arrange the strawberry slices on top of the mousse in a petal pattern. Serve immediately.
Short on time? You can buy ready made tart cases in the supermarket and continue from step 3.
