Strawberry season is here and that means our home is filled with lots of goodies made with fresh strawberries! If your anything like me you are always looking for a new dessert recipe. Dinner just seems more exciting when something sweet follows.
I had several strawberry recipes racing through my mind, but this one stood out. I love the brightness that the flavors bring, and I love that it only has about a 1/2 cup of sugar for the entire tart!
My love for fruit came at an early age. My summer days were spent climbing apple and plum trees, running the woods, and wading in the creek. A lot of those days my evenings ended with stomach aches from the large amounts of blueberries, strawberries, mulberries, apples, plums, and cherries, oh yeah, and the sour grass I ate. It didn’t matter to me if it was ripe or green, I liked a good variety. I got many lectures in the evenings for all the unripe fruit and berries I ate. Nowadays I mostly like things ripe, but I do like an occasional handful of sour grass.
This strawberry and Lemon Cream Tart is easy to make!
Yes, you heard me right the only baking you will do with this dessert is bake the crust. I just mix together a quick and easy pie crust and add a touch of cardamom. cardamom sets this crust apart and gives it a little something special. The center is just whipped up in a mixing bowl and pilled in when it’s cool. You can decorate the top however you would like. All kinds of fresh berries would work to decorate the top!
Strawberries pack lots of health benefits.
They help maintain beautiful skin, protect against cancer, and defends against heart disease. Make sure to choose organic, strawberries are on the list of fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticides.
Mini Strawberry and lemon cream tarts
You can also make this recipe in mini tart pans! They are so pretty, and great for entertaining! Remember to use pie weights to weigh down the crust when baking. If you don’t have any on hand you can use dry beans if you have them.
You could serve this with any type of berries you would like and even a squirt of whipped cream on the side would be delicious.
For other strawberry, desserts check out these Strawberry Vanilla Oat Bars!
Strawberry and Lemon Cream Tart
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/4 unbleached flour
- 1/4 tsp cardamom Buy cardamom here
- 1/2 tsp pink salt or sea salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 stick real butter very cold
- 4-6 tbsp ice water
Filling
- 1 block cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- Lemon zest from 2 whole lemons large
- 5-6 Tbsp powdered sugar
Topping
- 3 cups sliced strawberries
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
Instructions
Crust
- Pre-heat oven to 350
- In a bowl mix flour, sugar, salt, and cardamom.
- Cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter.
- When butter resembles a coarse meal, add in ice water one tablespoon at a time mixing with a spoon until the mix starts to come together. (make sure not to add too much water or the dough won't be flaky)
- When it starts to come together, press together with your hand. The dough will come together, it should only take a couple of minutes.
- Cover dough or place in a bag and put in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes or up to 48 hours.
- Place dough on a floured surface. (If the dough was in the refrigerator for more than an hour let sit at room temp for a few minutes.)
- With a rolling pin roll out dough until its a 1/4 inch thick.
- Place in the tart pan and take off any excess dough. If you are using mini tart pans use something a little bigger than the circle on your tart pan to cut them out. (I use a large glass.)
- With a fork poke some holes in the bottom of the crust and weigh the bottom of the crust down with pie crust weights or an oven-safe plate or pan.
- Bake crust 20-25 minutes or until lightly brown. Set aside and allow the crust to cool completely.
Filling
- Place all ingredients for filling in a medium-size bowl.
- With a hand mixer, mix on medium-high for 6-8 minutes, until smooth. (You must mix entire time because of the whipping cream.)
- Place in the refrigerator while you prepare topping.
Topping
- In a small mixing bowl slice strawberries.
- Sprinkle sugar and cardamom over them.
- Stir.
- Assemble
- Pour filling into a completely cool pie crust. Smooth with a rubber spatula.
- Arrange sliced strawberries on top as shown in the pictures.
- Place a whole strawberry in the middle.
- Serve cold, and store the tart in the refrigerator.
- If you are using mini tart pans you can decorate each one individually.
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