Charm Bakes: Strawberry Tart

Do you love strawberries?

I never did at first. i always thought that they are sour as I never got to eat the sweet ones before when I was young. But I was greatly influence by muy husband who likes anything strawberry. Strawberry cakes, strawberry milk and even cookies. I myself began to love strawberries.

And so I was at NTUC that day, our local supermarket and saw a pack of fresh strawberrys for only $3+. So I thought let's make a strawberry dessert. As I was a fan of tarts and pies, I made Strawberry Tarts. And I also had a leftover ripe mango to spare.

As I have already given the recipe for the pastry cream filling, here is just the sweet shortcrust pastry recipe for crust. Making the tart dough was so easy that I didn't feel the need to take pictures of the dough-making process.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry - by Rachel Allen

This basic pastry is used in many popular recipes, it's also one of the easiest pastries to start with. the uncooked dough can be frozen or be kept in the fridge for a couple of days.

Ingredients

200 grams ( 7oz ) Plain flour , sifted

1 tablespoon of icing sugar

100 grams ( 31/2 oz ) chilled butter, cubed

1/2 or 1 medium egg, beaten

Directions

Place the flour, sugar and butter in a food processor and whiz briefly. Add half the beaten egg and continue to whiz. You might add a little more egg, but not too much as the mixture should be just moist enough to come together.

If making by hand ( which I did ), rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse bread crumbs then, using your hans, add just enough egg to bring it together.

Again with your hands, flatten ut the ball of dough untilit is about 2cm ( 3/4 inches ) thick.

Then wrap in cling film or place it in a plastic bag and leave it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or , if you are pushed for time, in the freezer for 10-15mins.

Note:

Many people incling myself was nervous at first making my own pastry but it isn't as tricky as you might think. It is just about following the right steps. Always try to measure the ingredients accurately and go easy on the liquid. Kepp everything as cool as you can. be sure to chill the pastry before baking to stop it becoming sticky or shrinking too much during cooking.

Egg was used instead of water as the water will evaporate while baking and tends to make the pastry dry.

This is not a bread so never knead the dough or apply too much pressure on it. Be gentle.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and bake for 10 mins, bring them out from the oven and brush the leftover eggs in and bake for another 5 -8 mins till golden.

Here are how my tarts pastries look like.