We managed to bring home 6 pounds of gorgeous strawberries that we picked fresh from our day at Tanaka Farms. Because they were perfectly ripe, the berries were a lovely shade of red and utterly sweet and juicy.
I knew we’d polish off a good amount of them just as they were. But since each of us ate our bellies full of the berries at the farm, I wanted to make a few desserts to utilize the rest before they spoiled. It didn’t take too long for us to decide that a fresh strawberry pie would fit the bill perfectly!
I had initially wanted to make a pie just like the ones we used to order from Marie Callendar’s that were piled high with whole strawberries and glistened with a bright red glaze. But my sis, P, suggested I try out Alice Medrich’s shortbread tart crust. It’s one of her “go to” recipes because the flavor is stellar and it’s super quick and easy to pull together. I followed her advice and our fresh strawberry pie turned into a fabulous fresh strawberry tart with a buttery shortbread crust.
If you’ve never tried Alice Medrich’s tart crust before, you simply MUST! It comes together so quick due to the fact that it uses melted butter and you don’t need to roll out the dough.
If you read the recipe below, you’ll notice that I also used some fresh raspberries in the tart. Normally I wouldn’t have but I somehow used up so many of the berries in our other strawberry dessert that I needed something extra to fill in the spaces. However, it’s completely up to you if you’d like to add them or not.
I took the extra step of individually dipping each strawberry into the glaze before placing them into the crust. Most recipes will toss the strawberries in the glaze and then pour all the contents into the crust. This can often result in way too much glaze and the end result can be overly sweet and goopy. It definitely was unnecessary for our tart since our strawberries were so naturally sweet. So although the extra step may seem a bit much, it’s really worth it.
The finished tart is quite the show stopper and tastes even better than it looks. And with the delicious strawberries that we picked ourselves from Tanaka Farms, I can honestly say, it doesn’t get any fresher than this 🙂
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend!
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Fresh Strawberry Tart
Makes one 8-inch tart
Ingredients:
Crust: (From Alice Medrich)
8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted
¼ Cup Sugar
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
¾ Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
Filling:
1 Quart Strawberries
½ Cup Raspberries (optional)
3/4 Cup Water
2 Tablespoons Strawberry Gelatin
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
¼ Cup Sugar (more if berries aren’t sweet enough)
Prepare the crust. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a medium bowl with a fork. Add the flour and mix just until well blended with a pastry blender or a large fork. Don’t worry if the dough seems too soft. Press all of the dough very thinly and evenly into the sides and bottom of an 8-inch tart pan. If it seems like the butter is getting too oily and it’s becoming difficult to manipulate the dough, simply put it in the fridge for a few minutes, it’ll become easier to handle. Using a fork, prick the dough all over the bottom and sides. Place a large piece of parchment paper on top of dough and fill with pie weights or dry beans. Press weights to the edges of dough and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove parchment and weights and continue baking until deeply golden in color, approximately 10 minutes longer. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.
While the crust is cooling, prepare the filling. Mix together the sugar, gelatin, and cornstarch. Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Whisk in the dry ingredients and cook until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Dip each strawberry into the glaze and arrange them in the crust. Dip each raspberry and arrange them in between the strawberries. Chill the tart for at least 2 hours before serving.
theculinarychronicles.com 
This tart looks amazing, I love that it is absolutely loaded with berries! Gorgeous celebration of summer fruit.
Thanks Lauren! If we hadn’t eaten/used up the rest of the berries, I would have tried to precariously stack more in it! lol!
Gorgeous tart. Bet you’re not running to Marie Callender’s now. 🙂
You’ve got me on that one, Connie! 🙂
Wow these tarts are beautiful! Looking real nice and fresh. I’m sold on this just solely based on the strawberries alone.
Feel free to check out my blog:
http://www.simplygoodeating.com
THanks Jerry! I’ll check out your site right now. Cheers!
What a gorgeous tart! The strawberries look amazing… Thanks for sharing your recipe 🙂 I am very interested in this melted butter pastry… will need to look into that for sure! Thanks 🙂
You simply must try out the shortbread crust! Since it uses melted butter, I’ll never have an excuse to not make crusts again! 🙂 Cheers!
Beautiful… Looks so delicious! I love shortbread, so this is really my kind of tart!
I’ve tried making this once, but you tart looks way prettier….:)!!! Good job!
Hello! I found your blog through foodgawker :]
I was wondering if you could provide me with some details about Tanaka Farms? I was planning on going their to pick strawberries with my friends.
Do you have to make a reservation beforehand? Prices? Thanks!
and such a lovely tart! I can’t wait to make my own :]
Hi Yoojin! You’ll love the farm! 🙂
No reservations are needed and I think tours start on every half hour. Tix are $15/person but that includes your pound of berries, the produce you eat on the tour, and of course, the ride. Totally worth it! For more info, check out this link:
http://www.tanakafarms.com/Strawberry_Tours.html
Have FUN!
simply gorgeous!
simply gorgeous! yumm
That’s one good looking tart! I’m really eager to try the crust recipe, too. This post makes me want to look for a strawberry farm near me 🙂
Can I reprint this on my cooking site or would you like to do it as a guest post? I would love you to share your wonderful recipes on “Cooking Up A Storm All Over The World!”
http://www.CookingUpAStorminCa.ning.com
There are nearly 700 photographs in the Culinary Slide Show and yours would make a great addition!
Paulette Le Pore Motzko
(Polly Motzko)
Creator of “Cooking Up A Storm All Over The World!”(c)
BEAUTIFUL! I love strawberries. As soon as our berry farm opens here in Colorado, I will have to make one of these too!
That is one gorgeous tart! And you don’t have to roll out the dough?! Yes, please!!
dont forget that besides using melted butter which is great when you didn’t plan to leave it out– crust does not require rolling and is just pressed into tart pan. great activity for the kids.
congrats on the top 9 for this delicious looking strawberry tart
ha! finally, i don’t have to say it just looks good because i ate it! and it was damned good! the benefits of being around during one of your baking/cooking escapades! hehehehe
When someone writes an post he/she retains the plan of a user in his/her mind that how a user can know it.
So that’s why this piece of writing is perfect. Thanks!