Spring, a strangely early strawberry season and some leftover pie dough accidentally resulted in what has possibly become my favourite kind of pie (or tart!).
Better than chocolate pecan pie. Better than apple pie. Strawberry tarts have won their way into my heart.
They are just amazingly yummy and delicious and my little brother took a bite of one and yelled out “Go make more! Now!”.
Yes, they were that good.
The pastry is crisp, the strawberries make a little jam all by themselves while they are baking and the icing sugar makes them pretty.
They are relatively easy too, for a pie (or tart!).
The dough pretty much makes itself in some form of kitchen appliance (such as a food processor or electric mixer), then you roll it into a rough circle, put strawberries in the middle and fold the pastry around them and that’s it! You’re done! 20 minutes in the oven and you’ve got tarts!
Now go and make some, because these tarts are really THAT GOOD.
FREEFORM STRAWBERRY TARTS
For the pastry
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
125g cold unsalted butter, cubed (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp)
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp cold water
For the strawberry filling
2 x 250g punnets of strawberries
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp flour
To make the filling, hull and thinly slice the strawberries. Put them in a medium bowl and mix in the flour and sugar and set aside.
To make the dough, put the flour, sugar, butter and salt in a food processor or electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on a low speed until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Add the egg yolk and cold water. Continue to mix on low until a dough forms. Gather the dough together and form it into a disc. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180 C and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
Take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into 4 portions (or 6 portions if you want little tarts).
Roll out each portion of dough until it is quite thin, about 3-4mm. Pace the rounds of dough onto the baking trays.
Put 3-4 large tablespoons of strawberry filling in the centre of each tart, leaving a 4cm border around the edges.
Roughly fold in the edges of the dough so it overlaps and covers only some of the strawberry filling.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden.
Dust with icing sugar and enjoy! Makes 4 medium size tarts.
