Spring Baby Berry Tarts

I can't believe how one priority can totally fall to the bottom of a list, to be replaced by another. When I got pregnant the last thing I could think about was eating food, much less recipe building or cooking. As I recovered from the sickness, I began to eat and cook again but lost all energy to dedicate myself to this blog. I got a little sad about that because I've loved writing this blog and all of the adventures it has brought to me.

I decided that once I had my son, I'd try to make one thing a week to post on the blog, and do so once I had the energy and or was getting enough sleep to dedicate the half hour it usually takes to post!

I am delighted to announce that my son, Dylan Samuel, was born on April 28th and he is perfect in every way. He is by far, the best thing I've ever created....

It's been one month since his arrival and I've finally started to bake and cook and take a few photos of these meals.

We went as a family to the farmers market downtown, under I-83 last Sunday and bought some beautiful, garnet colored, strawberries. At first thought these were merely for topping my cereal. As the early week progressed, I became inspired to make a tart. I've made a berry tart before, using store bought puff pastry but I decided to get crazy and make a simple pastry crust. This tart is very rustic and doesn't require you to run out to Williams Sonoma (though I'd love an adult outing to my favorite store right now) to purchase a tart pan.

For the pastry:

1 c all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

4 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces

4 tbsp ice water

In a food processor, combine flour and butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the ice water and pulse until a dough begins to form. Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface and knead about 10 times. At this point you can roll the dough out into one large round or two smaller rounds. For this, I made two 8 inch rounds. Roll your dough out between two pieces of plastic wrap for easier rolling. Place dough into refrigerator for about 30 to 40 minutes.

For the filling:

2 c sliced strawberries

1/4 c sugar

juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp corn starch

Combine the berries, sugar, lemon juice and corn starch in a bowl. Stir to combine and set aside until dough is chilled.

Preheat oven to 350* F. Uncover dough and place on well greased baking sheet. Arrange strawberries (you can dedicate the time to precise, pinwheel type patterns, or do as I did and pile them in a disorderly manner) in the center of the dough, allowing for about 2 inches of border. Fold up the edges of the dough circles over the berries, crimping as you go, to seal. Lightly brush the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with a little more sugar.

Bake about 50 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.