Valentine Strawberry Tarts

I love making edible items for Valentine’s Day. I have wonderful memories of Valentine craft parties that I would have a week or two before Valentine’s Day, every year, for my youngest daughter and her friends. We’d make cards, frost cupcakes, eat, and play games. Fun times, now she is too old to want to do that 🙁 . Not sure why, cause I still would love to do it 😉 .

I use heart shaped cookie cutters since this is for Valentine’s Day but you can use any shape (a football for a Super Bowl party, perhaps?), or just cut squares, or other shapes, using a knife. Also, you want one of the cutters, if using, to be slightly smaller than the other, to create a pastry border around the fruit that puffs up nicely.

I use strawberry jelly, or any red jelly, in the mixture to brush over the tarts when they are done but, really, you can use anything that compliments strawberries…orange marmalade, apricot, etc. You can even change up the fruit, if you prefer. If you use a jam or preserve, that have pieces of fruit in it, just make sure you strain the pieces out before brushing over tarts…and add those pieces to a piece of toast with butter 🙂 .

Another variation is mixing 4 ounces softened cream cheese with 2-3 tablespoons of powdered sugar (mixture you would use in a danish, for example) and putting a dollop in the middle of the tart before laying down the strawberry pieces…or even some homemade frangipane instead, ummm.

You will need:

• 1 package puff pastry (such as Pepperidge Farm), defrosted
• 1 pint fresh strawberries (give or take)
• 1/4-1/3 cup granulated sugar (depending how sweet you want it)
• 4 tablespoons of butter, diced small
• 1/4 cup strawberry or raspberry jelly
• 2 tablespoons orange liquor, orange juice, or water
• Ground cinnamon, optional
• Powdered sugar, optional
• 2 heart shaped cookie cutters, different sizes, optional

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line 2 sheet pans with parchment or silicon baking mats.
2. Rinse and clean strawberries, removing the stem by cutting deeper in the middle so when you slice the strawberry it looks like a heart (slice into 1/4 inch slices), and set aside.
3. Using the larger heart shaped cookie cutter, unfold the puff pastry and cut as many hearts out of each sheet (there should be two), no need to roll out any further, as you can, and lay on sheet pan, about 1 inch apart.
4. Take the smaller cookie cutter and press it gently in center of bigger heart to create a ridge. Refrigerate one sheet pan while you cut for the second.
5. Take cut strawberries (try using inner slices first) and layer into inner part of the pastry (trying not to cross the ridge you created with the smaller cookie cutter too much).
6. Sprinkle about 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar on top of each of the tarts and then dot with 3 small cubes of butter. Add a sprinkle of cinnamon, if you like.
7. Bake for about 30-32 minutes on middle rack, until pastry has puffed and is golden brown on the edges. Don’t worry if you see burnt sugar around the tarts, that is normal. Just pull it off after the tart cools.
8. Five minutes before the tarts are done, heat the jelly with liquor, orange juice, or water and brush over the whole tart once they come out.
9. Loosen tarts with a firm spatula, so they don’t stick more as they cool, and let cool to room temperature.
10. Serve on plate and dust with powdered sugar, if you like.

Kali Orexi!