'Tart-y' Behavior

I bought myself a new tart pan. It’s a fabulous little piece of Wilton heaven. The bottom pops up, so the sides have perfect ridges. You might laugh when I say it’s a gorgeous sight to see, but it totally is. Nothing is more rewarding than popping that sucker up and having a gorgeous looking tart. My friend recently moved across the country to be with a girl. (But this blog is definitely NOT about him.) For this special goodbye occasion, I decided to break in my new tart pan.

When I get a new piece of culinary equipment I want to use it ALL the time so that it pays for itself right away. That way, if I don’t use it for a while I don’t feel like I’ve neglected it, hurt it’s feelings, or wasted my hard earned money. Therefore, expect a couple more tart recipes in the months to come.

Knowing that a lot goes into tart and that my friend isn’t very adventurous with food, he likes things plain, I knew my first tart had to be a simple experiment. I knew I wouldn’t be able to layer tons of flavors and that it had to be simple and sweet and above all pretty. If it didn’t look appetizing, he was not going to eat it. I searched for a recipe I was satisfied with and came up empty handed. I wanted something simple and fresh and summery. Sure, it got down to like 30 degrees that day, which is far from warm, but I still wanted it to feel that way. So I combined some ideas of things I hadn’t tried and things I had and came up with this gem of a recipe.

Summer Strawberry Orange Tart

Vanilla Wafer Tart Crust:
3 ¼ cup plus 2 TBSP food processed ‘Nilla wafer cookies (about 1.5 12 oz boxes)
6 TBSP plus 2 TBSP unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Stick the cookies in the food processor and grind them down until they’re pretty fine – not dusty fine, but not super chunky. Place the cookies in a large bowl. Add the melted butter and mix. Press the cookie crust in the bottom of the pan and up the sides of the pan. I stuck a metal measuring cup in the freezer before I started to process everything, I pulled it out and it helped press the cookie crust to the sides of the pan and define the edges really well. I made the crust pretty thick, which helps with keeping its shape and keeping the filling in since it’s a very delicate crust.

Bake until it starts to darken a bit, about 18 minutes. If the sides start to slide while cooking, press the sides up with a back of a spoon.

Orange Strawberry Mascarpone Filling:*
2 – 8 oz containers of Mascarpone cheese
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup powdered sugar
2 TBSP Cointreau (or Grand Marnier)
Zest of one orange
8 strawberries pureed

Beat the mascarpone until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients in. I broke out PP and beat the mixture until stiff peaks formed and the filling was smooth. You can cover and chill this or put directly into the crust.

Assembly:
Place filling into the tart crust. Slice about 1 -2 pounds of strawberries to decorate the top of the tart. It all depends on how fruity you want your tart. Lay out the strawberry slices in concentric circles.

I had a little bit of cookie crumbs and filling left. I was able to make a mini tart in a small 6” pie pan.

Chill the tart until you are ready to serve. Push up the bottom of the pan and place on a round platter. The truth is, because it’s a crumbly crust, the sides may not come out perfectly. Which is a little agonizing, but it still comes out impressive looking.

This tart is super easy, gorgeous looking and it tastes fresh and light. It’s the perfect thing to take to a BBQ or house party. Some people commented that it reminded them of cheesecake, but it was far from it. My other friend said it tasted like a delicious cannolli, only better. Pegleg loved this recipe because the food processor did most of the hard work.

*The filling I adapted from a recipe I made this past holiday season. Gingerbread, orange Mazcarpone Trifle with candied apricots, which I adapted from this original recipe on Epicurious. This tart would probably be delish with a gingersnap crust too, that could be created the same way as the vanilla wafer crust.